Dry Ice
by TheMortician'sDaughter
Summary: "It was a funny thing, love. It could seem to be deceiving, pointing you back to the person who had hurt you the most. But me, I trusted it." For some, adolescence is the epitome of their life's enjoyment - but for young Carlisle Cullen and Esme Platt, it's an entirely different story. AU.
1. Chapter One

**Hey there again. =] So, a few nights ago when I was being a really weird insomniac again, I came up with this little idea… and wrote it down. I'm not sure what this is going to turn into yet, but I'm hoping that it will be another successful project of mine… but, as for now, I hope you guys enjoy chapter one of my new fanfic idea here. =]**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

I let my backpack slide off my shoulder and hit the ground with a muted thump as I plopped down into my seat in the middle of my math classroom, three minutes early, as always. I was used to being the first one in class every day, as I never stopped to mingle in the hallways as most of the other students here did. It was only a few weeks ago that it changed; a new girl had transferred to out school. She didn't speak much; only if she were directly spoken to first would she open her mouth to talk. She didn't have any friends either; a little surprising, considering that most new kids had usually made at least one or two friends during the first few weeks at a new school. I'd wanted to go up to her several times, to talk to her, see if she would happen to befriend me, but something always kept me from it.

"Hey, Carlizzle! How goes it?"

Clark. _He's_ what's kept me from it.

I sighed lightly, "How many times have I told you not to call me that? But... it goes good, I guess."

Clark was a rather nice kid... most of the time. He was considered the 'joker' of the little circle of friends we had here at Oakland High, the most likely to get us into some sort of mishap that would lead to some sort of punishment from any adult that happened to hear of our – or, rather, his – mischief.

"Whatever. Not my fault you've got such a weird name." He grinned and slid into his seat as I rolled my eyes. My gaze drifted back to the girl who sat in the corner of the room , the hood of her black sweatshirt pulled tightly over her head with a few locks of caramel colored hair leaking out at the sides.

"Hey... what's her name again?" I asked quietly, jerking my head slightly towards the girl.

"Oh, the new chick? Err... It's somethin' weird, like, Esme or something like that," Clark answered, chewing on a piece of candy that he had pulled out of his well-stocked, candy machine-like backpack.

"Esme... interesting," I murmured, not removing my gaze from her. Her eyes flashed up from her desk to stare straight back at me, and it felt as if her dark gaze held on so tight that I couldn't bring myself to tear mine away. I school bell tolled and I pulled my eyes away from hers, but not without difficulty, to look at my teacher. As hard as I tried to concentrate on what was being taught, to focus on anything but that girl, I couldn't seem to shake the feeling of her gaze still burning into my back.

**Hmm... well, that was rather short... it seemed longer when it was written down in that notebook... xD**

**Ah, well. I guess we'll see what it turns into. I'd also love to hear what you guys think of the first chapter, whether or not you think I should continue or any thoughts that may pop into your head about it... thank you very much in advance for any reviews you may decide to leave... =]**


	2. Chapter Two

**So... here's chapter two. I know its not very long, but I hope you all enjoy it and I'd love to hear what you think. =] Also, thank you for the reviews on chapter one! I really appreciate them, they're definitely what keeps me going :D**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

"Hey. Hey, Carlisle! What the hell are you doing?"

I blinked a few times before looking over at my other good friend, Erin. She was staring at me as if a third eye had just appeared on my forehead, waiting for me to snap out of my trance.

"Oh... sorry," I mumbled. "Err... stressful day." I grabbed the Twizzler that Clark was dangling in front of my face and bit into it, shooting him a short glare. He grinned idiotically at me before chucking another one at Ryan, who was sitting about a foot away from me on the trunk of our tree. The four of us came to this tree every day after school and on most weekends, if we weren't already hanging out somewhere else. Rarely did anyone ever pass by us when we were here; the tree was set back far enough near the forest for anyone to even notice it was there. We thought of it as our sanctuary; a place where we could just be.. ourselves, and not have to put on an act for the rest of the people at the school.

"Jerk," Ryan laughed, before picking up the Twizzler and whipping it back at Clark. The two continued to throw Twizzlers and other pieces of candy at each other for God only knows how long. I sighed before looking away from their pathetic sugar-high to look at Erin, who was still just staring at them and shaking her head.

"Idiots. I think you may be the only sane guy I know, Carlisle," she said, obviously trying to fight the smirk that pulled at the corner of her mouth. She ended up winning the battle between herself and the smirk before asking, "So, Clark told me that you were being all obsessive over the new chick. What's with that?"

I sighed, exasperated, pinching the bridge of my nose between my index finger and thumb. Leave it to Clark to exaggerate things. "I wasn't being 'obsessive'. All I did was ask her name."

"He said you were, like... staring at her."

"What, I'm not allowed to wonder why some new girl is sitting in the corner, all dressed in black with no friends?"

Erin smirked again and held back a laugh, "He said you had _lust_ in your eyes." She let the giggle escape at the word 'lust', before breaking into a fit of laughter afterwords. I ignored her bout of laughter and glared at Clark, who was still running and stumbling around, trying to escape the wrath of Ryan's Twizzler attack. I stood up and walked up to stand behind him, grabbing him by his hood and pulling him back away from Ryan.

"Dude, what are you doing?" he protested, struggling against my tight grip on his sweatshirt.

"Tell me. _What_ did you tell Erin about fourth period?" I asked lowly.

Clark blinked slowly and stared ahead, "Err... well... It was true! You _did_ have lust in your eyes! There's no denying that!"

I made a low noise in my throat, almost like a growl, "I did not. I... I was a little creeped out, okay? Did you not see the look on her face when she saw me looking at her?"

"See? You admitted it! You were looking at her!"

"Yes, fine! I was looking at her! I'm sure you've looked at her in the past few weeks, too! She's _new_; of _course_ people are gonna look at her." Clark suddenly stopped talking, staring at something that was entering the forest.

"Speaking of the new chick, there she is," Ryan said, gesturing towards the dark figure that had nearly disappeared into the sheet of trees covering the trails within the forest.

"Oh, so you're not gonna go after her?" Clark asked, finally tearing the hood of his sweatshirt out of my grip that had loosened when I noticed the girl. I stared at where she had disappeared for a few seconds more before answering his sarcastic question.

"No. Why would I do that?" I tried to convey by the tone of my voice that I didn't care about the girl.

Even though I did.

There was just something about her, something that I'd never seen in any other girl. I'd dated a few girls over the past couple of years, but none of them had that one quality I was looking for. To be honest, I didn't even know what that quality was... I'm not sure what that feeling deep in my gut was trying to tell me, whether this girl had that quality or not, but I could only assure myself that this wouldn't be an easy path to follow.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter three... meheheh. I gotta say, I'm having fun writing this story... it's a lot different than the other ones I've written... and, a sincere thank-you to all my reviewers out there, not only for this particular fic, but for everything else as well! Your reviews mean the world to me; without them, well, I've got no idea where I'd be. =] Thank you, and enjoy chapter three... =]**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

3_:46 AM. I haven't had a sleepless night like this in ages._ I sighed heavily and flipped over onto my back, staring at the white ceiling of my bedroom. _What is wrong with me? She's just a new kid. That's all. Nothing more._ I turned my head and glanced at the bright green digital numbers on my clock that had only added one minute to the amount of time I'd been awake. Running a hand through my tousled blonde hair, I sat up in my bed and stared at the wall.

"Guess I should get up," I muttered, throwing my blanket off of my leg, throwing on an old tee-shirt and quietly making my way down the stairs. I didn't bother to turn on any of the lights in the kitchen when I grabbed the coffee and put a few spoonfuls into the coffeemaker, a routine I'd been doing since I was nine years old and my mother would demand her morning brew. You'd think she would've changed in the six years that followed that, but, to this present day, she still kept herself in that boring rut of a life. I pressed the power button on the laptop that was left sitting on the table, planning to check my e-mail as I did every morning. It wasn't often that I even got any mail in my inbox, besides the usual advertising and chain-mail forwards. I typed in my password and pressed the 'Enter' key, surprised to see that there was in fact an unread e-mail that wasn't one of the usuals. It was from Erin; sent at 3:14 AM. It read:

_Yo, Carlizzle. Yeah, I'm sending this at quarter after three in the morning. Can't sleep, y'know, my usual. But.. I just saw some story on the breaking news thingamabob about some girl going missing in the forest... I think it may be your little girlfriend there. -hint hint wink wink- okay, sorry, I know, its not funny. But I thought you might like to know that. See ya at school tomorrow... err... today, that is. ~ Erin~_

I didn't even move the mouse to click on the 'reply' button. I just stared at the one little line in her e-mail for I don't even know how long: _some girl went missing in the forest._

"Oh, God," I whispered, setting the computer aside and letting my gaze drop to the floor. "Oh SHIT!" I let myself fall back onto the couch, my fingers knotted in my hair frustratedly. "I shoulda gone after her.. I know it... dammit." I moaned quietly, ignoring the beep of the coffeemaker, signaling that it was done, and just stared at the ceiling again, hoping that somehow this was just all a dream.

_**A Few Days Later...**_

Four days... and she still hadn't come back.

Erin was right. I really was being obsessive over this girl... Esme. That was her name. Not 'that girl' or 'the new chick'. Esme. Just the thought of her being missing, possibly dead, led me to three more sleepless nights. My whole body and most of my brain was running on caffeine and nothing else; I'd even stopped eating regular meals every day. My friends had obviously noticed the change in my mood and eating habits, but it was Ryan who came right out and said it.

"Carlisle, what is it about her? You've never been this way before. Especially not over a _girl._"

"I don't know," had been my simple answer. The most truthful, honest answer that came to my caffeinated brain.

"Well, you need to stop it. Whatever you're doing, or, rather, not doing, isn't healthy. I mean, look at you, for God's sake." Erin had turned me around to face my reflection in the coffee-shop window to stare at my face and expression. Deep purple bags had formed under my eyes, which were drained of all possible emotion. I'd resorted to attire similar to Clark's; baggy sweatshirts and jeans. I normally wore the same Converse sneakers every day, but even those seemed to look faded with age and depression.

"I can't stop it, Erin," I murmured quietly. "I don't even know why it's happening. How am I supposed to stop it if I don't know where its coming from?"

"Well, you obviously like the chick, don't you?" Clark said, staring at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Her name is Esme, Clark. Not 'the chick'. And... I dunno." I leaned my forehead against the cold glass of wine window. Ryan slapped my back.

"Ha! Carlisle's finally found a girl he likes! Like, _really_ likes! Jeez, bro, took you long enough," he laughed. I glared at him and he dropped his smile. I turned around and scanned the faces of the half-circle the three had made around me. Clark shared the same expression as Ryan and Erin just looked slightly disappointed, but covered it with a light smile.

"Well, hopefully she'll come back," she started. "Then maybe, y'know, we can try to talk to her. Maybe she'll end up becoming our friend... it'd only be the nice thing to do." She added the last part when she saw the other two guys giving her one of those cliché 'yeah, right' looks. I let my gaze drop to the pavement and slightly nodded.

"Yeah, we could try. I think she'd appreciate it," I added softly. "If she comes back, of course."

Erin looked at me sadly, "Yeah. _If._"


	4. Chapter Four

**Ah, chapter four... I wrote this a few days ago in a notebook, but couldn't get on the computer to type it up. I'm sorry about the short little wait for the update. But... as of now, here's chapter five, and I hope you enjoy... =]**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

I'd never wanted to be like my mother. I'd never wanted to live my life in a rut, to never change, to be miserable. I didn't care, at this age and time, about getting married and having children in my future. My mother was the type of person who rushed into things before she had any idea of what it entailed. I, having lived with her for that majority of the fifteen years of my life, never wanted to end up anything like her.

That all changed a week and a half ago.

It all changed when Esme, a girl I barely knew, went missing in the forest.

That dark, mysterious girl had changed, or so it seemed, my life in a mere week and a half.

Maybe she wasn't normal. Maybe she was one of those girls who had the ability to mysteriously seduce any man that she pleases. It was a slight possibility, but not one that I was willing to consider. Besides, I couldn't see Esme as the type of girl to do that. If she were one of those people that strolled casually down the hallway with the opposite sex swarming around and falling all over them, well, that would be a different story.

I sighed and stood up from the kitchen table, setting my barely-touched bowl of cereal in the sink. I quickly rinsed it out, knowing that my mother wouldn't bother to do the dishes when sh returned from work at 7:30 that evening. Grabbing my backpack from the floor, I walked out the door and shut it behind me, starting on my way to school.

I entered the school building, making my way through the tightly-packed students in the hallway. I looked around at the shocked faces that I passed and several groups of whispering friends before stopping behind a large group of football players that were circled around a locker.

"So you came back, emo chick?"

"Have fun in that forest of yours?"

I listened to several more of their taunts before shoving through two of the guys and standing beside the girl they were insulting. Esme.

"Oh, its blondie! I see you've jumped off your white horse to defend your little girlfriend, huh?" one of them threw at me.

"Leave her alone," was my simple yet harshly-toned reply.

"So you two _are_ dating? Gotten to second base yet?" another one snickered.

His friend elbowed him in the side, "Doubt it. That's probably why she was out in the forest; trying to get raped 'cause her boyfriend won't give her any."

That did it. That comment infuriated me; every other thought or emotion in my brain was overrode with red hot anger as I pulled back my arm, clenched my fist and smacked the football player square in the nose, hearing a loud crack follow the impact. He grunted in pain and staggered backwards, his hand clapped over his nose.

"Serves you right -" I began, stepping towards him again, but I was cut off by two hands: a light touch to my arm from Esme, who looked as if she were about to burst into tears, and another, stronger hand pushing on my chest to keep me away from the jock. Mr. Aldrict... my science teacher.

"Detention. Both of you. After school," he ordered in a deep monotone. I stared at him in disbelief.

"But... she didn't even do anything! I know I deserve it, but _she_ doesn't!" I protested.

"I don't care. All I know is that I better see both of you in my room at two-thirty on the dot, or you'll get into a lot worse than detention," he threatened before storming off in the opposite direction. I ran my fingers through my hair, habit I had when I was stressed, and turned to look at Esme.

"God, Esme, I'm sorry -" I started to say, before cutting myself off when I saw her. She was slightly hunched over in her locker, her body trembling with the small sobs she tried to conceal. I lightly touched her shoulder.

"Esme?" I asked quietly. "Are you okay?" She stood back, shut her locker and nodded slightly.

"I'm fine, thank you," she whispered, keeping her eyes on the tiled floor as she walked away to her first period class, just as the late bell tolled. The shrill sound seemed inaudible to my ears as I watched her swiftly walk away.

"I'm... sorry, Esme."

**gah... its so short. -.- They always seem longer when they're handwritten.**

**I apologize for the length of this chapter... but I also have chapter five written down, so I'll type that up and try to get more than one update in today. =] Thank you for reading, and reviews are always greatly appreciated!**


	5. Chapter Five

**Aah... I'm sorry this update took so long! It's been at least a week or two, right?**

**Me is sorry.. I just started the new school year last week and I've been loaded with homework and stuff... but I've got a few study halls this year, so I can continue my tradition of last year... either blowing off the homework until that evening and writing, or doing the homework then writing in the next study hall. XD But, here's chapter five... I think? Yeah, five... I thought it was six for some reason... O_o**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

"I'm here," I muttered, shuffling into my science teacher's room at exactly two-thirty on the dot, as he'd instructed.

Though it wasn't only me that occupied this detention; Esme, as well.

I just didn't _get_ it. I had no idea of how long Mr. Aldrict had been standing there or how much if the incident he saw, but anyone who wasn't blind or deaf could clearly tell that Esme had done nothing; that she was the victim behind this whole mess.

Anyone but that scumbag of a teacher, that is.

I stifled a sigh, taking a seat a few desks down from where Esme was slumped down in her chair with the black hood of her sweatshirt pulled tightly over her head as usual. I then looked up at the teacher, waiting for him to give us some sort of instruction on what – or what _not_ – to do. He finally stood up from his place in the front of the room and cleared his throat.

"I'll be in the teacher's lounge if either of you bad seeds need me," he announced. "A hint of advice: _don't need me._" At that ending note, the rather large, bearded man stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him, leaving just Esme and I in the room. I glanced at the girl a few seats down from me before attempting to distract myself with digging through my bag, trying to find something to occupy myself. I gave up after a few minutes, remembering that I had finished the last of my assignments in my eighth period study hall. Sighing lightly, I looked over at Esme again, noticing how she too had no homework out on her desk.

"You don't have any homework either?" I asked quietly, curious to see if she'd play along with my pathetic attempt at small talk. Instead, she just simply shook her head, keeping her gaze on the desk in front of her.

I nodded slightly, "That's good." My voice was quiet; almost quiet enough that I, myself, couldn't even hear it. A few minutes of dead, awkward silence passed before, to my pleasant surprise, Esme spoke.

"You didn't have to defend me, you know," she murmured. "You wouldn't have put yourself in this position. I'm sure detention must really suck for you." I smirked slightly and snuck a glance at her again.

"No, not really," I disagreed lightly. "It beats going home and cooking dinner or something." Her gaze shot up from it's position on the blank desk to look at me at the end of my sentence. It was in that brief moment that I saw and realized how truly beautiful she was. Despite the nearly overwhelming color to her skin, the dark and almost lifeless look to her eyes, there was still something, that little unrecognizable quality, that shone through. I wasn't sure of exactly how long I had kept my eyes on her; but obviously long enough for her to shift uncomfortably and look away. I also removed my gaze and stared at the desk.

"Uh... sorry," I apologized, feeling as if my cheeks had just flushed a bright red. "I sorta, um... zoned out for a minute."

Esme merely shrugged it off, "Don't worry about it. I get weird looks and stares all the time."

I coughed quietly and quickly changed the subject. "So where did you move from?"

"Ashland. You know, in Wisconsin."

I smiled, "That's cool. What made you guys... your family... decide to move here? Wisconsin is so different from California, isn't it?"

She paused for a moment, as if she were unsure of how to answer my question. "Err... my... mom got a new job." The short glance she gave me after she finished speaking clearly conveyed to me that she didn't want to share any more of her life's personal details; instead, she wanted to know about mine. "Have you lived here all your life?"

I shook my head. "No, actually. I lived in New York until I was about ten. Then my mom suddenly decided on a whim to move out here." I sighed lightly. "It was a big change, but I managed."

"So... you just moved across the whole continental U.S because your mom felt like it?"

I smiled and laughed once quietly, "Yeah, pretty much." She then opened her mouth to most likely ask me something else, but was interrupted by the sharp squeaking of the classroom door opening.

"You two are free to go," Mr. Aldrict mumbled. "They're closing the school early today."

"Cool," I murmured to myself, slinging by backpack over one shoulder and standing up from my seat. I looked over at Esme, who had also stood up and had started towards the door. I followed her closely down the hall, trying to catch up with her quick pace.

"Hey, um... would you wanna... walk home together? I heard that you live somewhere near where I do," I suggested.

"Can't," she replied, her tone cutting. "I... have to go to my mom's work. I'll see you tomorrow." It was at that moment that she took a sharp turn down the next hallway and quickly walked out the side door of the school.

"Okay then." I mumbled, continuing on my way.

"Hey! You're alive!" Clark exclaimed, waving his hand in the air from the table set back in the corner of the town coffee shop. I walked over to him, Ryan and Erin, dropping my bag to the floor and taking the one empty seat left.

"Yeah," I replied. "It wasn't too bad. Aldrict left the room for the whole thing.. then let us out early 'cause they were closing the school early or something."

"So he left you two alone? It was _just_ you and her in the room?" Ryan inquired eagerly, leaning across the table and setting his curious gaze on mine.

Clark laughed, "Jeez, Ryan. You're talking like he left them together in a hotel room." I rolled my eyes.

"Sick minded bastard," I muttered to myself, before turning to Ryan. "Yes. I tried to get to know her a bit but... I kinda failed a bit. All I got was that she's from Wisconsin."

"Ooh, Wisconsin. I hear they're sketchy," Clark said, a wide grin on his face.

Erin leaned over and smacked him in the shoulder, "I was born there, you know!"

"Who ever said that you weren't sketchy?"

Erin chucked a little packet of sugar at him, sighing. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Ryan who's gaze was darting between Erin and Clark, intently watching their sugar-packet battle. After a few seconds, he looked back at me leaving the other two to their quarrel.

"I can't believe you actually got her to talk. I don't think anyone's successfully accomplished that yet."

"He probably sweet-talked her or something. Y'know, I bet Carlisle really is all warm and fuzzy on the inside, no matter how many times he denies it," Clark cut in after tossing the last packet of sugar at Erin. I sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and thumb.

"There was no 'sweet-talking' involved, Clark," I muttered. "I just asked her where she was from and she said Wisconsin. Simple."

"Eh. You'll get more out of her soon enough... if that jock doesn't kill you first," Erin joked. "I never thought you had the willpower to break someone's nose. Especially not Brandon Hurley."

"He deserved it." I smirked evilly.

"He's deserved it since he was _born_. I'm surprised no one's thought to do it before," Ryan laughed.

"I heard somewhere that his ex-girlfriend tried a while back when she caught him cheating," Clark put in.

I unknowingly tuned out of their conversation a few seconds later, letting my gaze wander around the walls of the local coffee joint. _I wonder if she actually goes to her mother's work,_ I thought. _No teenager in the tenth grade does that these days._ I let the question hang in my mind , trying to think of some sort of event Esme would have to try to hide. Maybe she wasn't _lost_ in the forest for a week and a half; maybe she was in some sort of cult. Maybe she couldn't take the pressure of being the outcast at a new school. Or, maybe, she just couldn't live with _herself_ anymore. _Couldn't live with herself? What the hell am I thinking? I barely know the girl; I can't just assume. _I rested my chin on my fist, still keeping my gaze on the paintings that hung on the deep burgundy walls of the coffee shop.

I'd find out one way or another. Someday, somehow, I'd get her to tell me.

Let the ride begin.


	6. Chapter Six

**Okay... I know this is extremely cliched, coming from me.. but, again.. I am SO SO SO sorry about the long wait for the update. I've been overwhelmed with schoolwork and just haven't found much time to be able to work on my stories. I've been working on this chapter for a really long time in the small moments of spare time that I find, so I'm hoping that it'll turn out to be something good, and well.. readable. So, overall, I apologize for the wait and I hope you guys think that this is worth waiting for. As always, thank you for all the wonderful reviews. =]**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Erin's voice came from a few feet behind me just as I was walking out of the back door of the school to start on my way home before I met up with the other three at our tree.

"Sure thing." I stopped in my path and turned around, dropping my heavy bag from my shoulders. "What do you need?"

Erin paused for a moment and glanced down at the ground for a second. "Well... I figured that since it's the weekend... and you've been hanging around with – or so it seems, you seem to always pop up where she is – that Esme chick lately. Do you two have like... plans this weekend or anything?"

I blinked, not even having to contemplate her question for the slightest of moments. "No. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. I was just kinda wondering if you two were.. dating or something."

I sighed and slapped my palm over my forehead. "You too? We are _not_ dating, Erin! Don't you think I would've told you and the others first if we were?"

"Well... maybe. But you can be all secretive with certain things."

"_When?_ Give me one example of when I've been so-called 'secretive' with something."

She paused for a few seconds, thinking deeply. "Like... like that time when you failed that Social Studies test. You never told anyone."

I rolled my eyes. "Erin, I get straight A's in every class I take. Why would I tell someone that I failed a test?"

"Then what happened during that 'detention' you had with the new chick? Was it even a detention?" Her voice sped up near the end of the question, causing my to throw up my hands, palms forward, n defense.

"I swear, Erin, it was a detention. I punched a kid in the face and then the science teacher flipped out on us. End of story."

"Well, what made you punch the jock, huh? You only did it 'cause you knew that you'd get detention... with _her_." She paused for a moment, "I know you like her, Carlisle. It's obvious. Whenever she comes up in anyone's conversation, you immediately shy away like you don't want anyone to know about those... _feelings_," she sneered the word, "that you have for the emo chick."

I just simply stared at her at the end of her speech for a few moments. Erin glared straight back at me until I turned my back to her and walked away. I passed Ryan on my way to.. well, wherever I was going, not giving him a second glance as he opened his mouth to ask why I looked so infuriated. I just kept walking as long as my legs could manage.

I had no idea of how long I kept walking. No idea of the distance I traveled, no idea of where in the hell I stopped. All I recall was walking until my legs could take no more and I eventually tripped over a tree root. I laid there on the forest floor for what seemed like hours until I heard a soft crunching of leaves, and a rather medium-heighted, slim figure appeared before me, cloaked from head to toe in black.

"What are you doing out here?" The quiet voice broke through the wall that seemed to have been slammed down over all of my senses. "It's late. You should be at home." I turned my eyes up to look at who I recognized as Esme.

"I don't wanna go home," I mumbled, my voice barely able to form the words I wanted to utter.

Esme slid down to the forest floor and sat beside me. "You shouldn't be out here. It's not safe."

"Then why are you out here?" I shot back, unaware of how harsh my voice most likely sounded.

"I'm out here enough to know my way around. You, on the other hand, don't." She stared at me with those dark, midnight blue eyes of hers. At a first glance, one would think that her eyes were black; cold and harsh. It took a few deep gazes to really see the true color. Unfortunately for Esme, no one really tended to give her more than a second glance.

"I've lived here long enough to know my way around," I replied, pulling myself into a sitting position. "But thank you for the concern."

She stared at me for a few moments longer before she turned her gaze away. "well, you were concerned for my well-being those few days ago when we got the detention. I figured that I may as well return the favor."

I nodded slowly. "Uh.. sure. Thanks."

"You sure that you don't want me to show you the way out of here?" she asked once more. I stifled a light sigh.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll find my way out once dawn breaks."

"So you're gonna stay out here all night?"

"I guess I have to." I leaned back against a nearby tree, picking up a twig and fiddling with it in between my fingers. When I looked over at Esme, I could've sworn that I detected a hint of worry in her dark blue gaze before she looked away.

"I'll stay with you, then. Some animal might come out of nowhere and eat you or something." A hint of a smirk played at the corners of her lips for a few seconds before she sighed.

"Well, it could eat you, too," I said quietly, also slightly smirking.

"Nah. Animals don't really tend to come near me."

"So I take it you don't have any pets?" I looked over at her and smiled. To my surprise, her lips didn't turn upwards in a smirk again. She just stared coldly at the water flowing by in the creek.

"No. I don't."

"Oh... well, I don't either. Don't feel alone."

Esme nodded curtly and began to ask me about some sort of science homework we may have had that night. The subject eventually drifted away from schoolwork and onto other things, though as time went on I noticed that she didn't choose to share much about her personal life. For hours on end, the two of us sat by the small creek and talked until the first rays of the sun broke through the clouds at the break of dawn.

**...hm...well... its something! XD**

**and I just need to point out one small detail... I hope I don't disappoint any of you... but... no, Esme is _not_ a vampire. Nopers. So, I just wanted to clear up that small suspicion that a few of you had left in your reviews XD sorry for any disappointment... but, well... a few more of those lovely reviews would be appreciated =D **


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapitre sept. For those of you that don't know French, that translates into chapter seven...**

**So... yeah. Is there much to say? I don't really think so. So, enjoy the chapter, and I would love to have a few reviews to read if you so choose =]**

_**Esme Platt**_

"Well, it's dawn. I guess we better get going to school, huh?" the blonde boy.. err... Carlisle (I had a tendency to keep forgetting his name) said. I watched as he stood up and brushed a few strands of loose hair from his face, and then turned his light, ice-blue eyes on me. "You ready?"

Pulling myself to my feet as well, I replied, "Actually... why don't you and I skip today? We could fake 'calling in sick' and I could show you this area that I like to go to. I think you would find it pleasant as well."

He blinked, astonished. "Uh, sure."

"If you don't want to miss school, you don't have to. It was only a suggestion. I get it if you wanna keep your perfect attendance record or something." I looked at him expectantly, waiting for his answer. _Please say yes,_ I pleaded in my mind, _You're an interesting person to me._ As if my thought had been willed into his head, he nodded eagerly and contradicted my statement.

"No, I'll come with you. It'll be nice to have a break from school for a day, at least."

I also nodded, turning my back to him and beginning to lead the way.

"So where exactly are we going?" Carlisle inquired, his eyes wheeling around the unknown area and taking in the new surroundings. I smiled to myself at his curiosity.

"Just wait. We're almost there," I replied, pushing past one more thin blockage of foliage and revealing the area that I liked to think of as my second home. "And here we are."

No matter how many times I saw it or how long of a period of time I stayed here, the gorgeous sight never ceased to take my breath away. A large, sandy colored cliff jutted out above the dark blue shining water beneath. My mother, before she has passed away when I was nine, always described the color of my eyes as just barely a shade lighter than the water. The waves rolled gently over the sea, and above, the pearl-white clouds moved swiftly across the sky, as if symbolizing that one day everything would follow in their path and slowly slip away into a land of nothingness.

"So, what do you think?" I finally asked, turning around to see Carlisle staring wide-eyed at the breath-taking sight.

"It's amazing," he breathed. "How did you find this place?"

"My mother used to take me here when I was younger." I shrugged lightly. "That's why I wanted to move back."

"So you haven't always lived in Wisconsin?"

I shook my head." No. I lived here until I was about nine, then my dad and I moved to Ashland. He had gotten a job here little while ago, so we moved back."

"And what about your mother?"

I hesitated, internally debating on whether or not to answer his inquiry. As if sensing my uneasiness, he quickly amended, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

once again, I moved my head back and forth in denial. "No, its all right. She died when I was nine, so it's just kinda hard to talk about, if you know what I mean." I lifted my gaze from the ground to meet his eyes. To my surprise, the amount of sympathy that filled the pools of blue was much more than I had expected. Though, there was a hint of something else behind the irises that I just couldn't put my finger on.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "That must've been horrible; especially when you're that young."

"It was," I replied quietly, "but I think I'm finally getting over it. Hopefully -" I cut myself off at the start of my sentence, realizing that I was about to delve a little too deep into information on my personal life. Carlisle didn't need to know anything about that just yet; if at all.

"Hopefully what?" he pushed on, leaning in a little bit towards me.

"Oh, nothing. Just started thinking aloud for a moment." I looked back towards Carlisle, only to find myself staring into his eyes. I wasn't exactly sure how long we both sat there staring at each other until he finally broke the silence.

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. But I want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to, that I'm always here."

I nodded, "Sure. Good to know." He smiled gently at me and then turned back to look out over the beautiful water.

"If you don't mind me asking," he began tentatively, "What were you doing in the forest for all that time? Were you here? Or did someone, like, kidnap you or something?"

I looked at him, a little surprised by his sudden onslaught of inquiries. "You're one to ask questions, aren't you?"

Carlisle's cheeks seemed to flush into a bright pink. "Sorry. I don't mean to interrogate you or anything."

"Don't worry about it." I fought the urge to smile at his embarrassment. I wasn't one to smile often, and I'm sure that Carlisle had noticed that over the time we'd known each other. I had no intention of trying to change the way he thought of me; if he thought anything of me in the first place, that is. "But, no, I wasn't in the forest. I was here, like you said."

"Why did you... well, run away for so long like that?"

"Um... no reason. I just... I just needed some time to myself for a little while. I needed not to be around people; especially those imbeciles at school."

"Very true," he murmured, before throwing yet another question at me. "Didn't your father wonder where you were?"

I sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating on whether or not to answer truthfully. "Um... no, most likely not."

Confusion replaced the glimmer of that one little something that I couldn't seem to figure out in Carlisle's eyes, "Your own father... he wouldn't worry about the disappearance of his daughter?"

Suddenly becoming fascinated with a blade of grass on the ground, I shook my head, "No. The only thing he'd be concerned about that involves my disappearance would be that he would no longer have anyone to take advantage of, to beat up, to get him his ninth bottle of beer every night." My voice halted immediately as soon as the words left my mouth. _Damn_, I thought, _I didn't just say that. Not to him. I didn't... yes I did. Why?_ I snuck a quick glance at Carlisle, who's eyes held a disarray of confusion and sympathy.

"Um... I best be going," I mumbled, fumbling to stand up from the ground and escape from Carlisle's gaze as fast as humanly possible. "I'll see you at school tomorrow." I spun around in a streak of black and walked swiftly towards the thick lining of trees, but was stopped by a hand closing around my wrist.

"Don't go," Carlisle's soft voice begged, "Don't be ashamed of that. It's not your fault."

"Yes it is. It's most definitely my fault. Now _let me go._" I pulled my wrist from his grip and kept walking, picking up my pace. I'd made it through the trees and back onto the trail we had taken before, and just as I was about to push through another layer of foliage, two strong arms caught me around the waist.

"Stop it, Carlisle!" I whined, struggling to remove his arms from my body, "Just leave me alone. None of this concerns you in the slightest." Before I could unclasp his arms from my waist, Carlisle had turned me around and secured me in a tight hug against his chest.

"As of now, yes it does. You're part of my life now, and I'm part of yours. There's no turning back."

… **well... xD Thoughts? Ideas? Constructive criticism? Thank you for tuning in! :) **


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter eight... yeah. I feel horrible that I like never update my fics... this school year is extremely stressful, and I've got midterms coming up soon with two more projects to do for English class, so I'm pretty overwhelmed with work and stuff. My sincere apologies to all of you who have been looking forward to frequent updates. But... here it is, and I hope you all like it (:**

_**Carlisle Cullen **_

Fortunately, my mother had never found out about my skipping school a few days before, and my routine schedule continued flawlessly. Esme's personality in school hadn't changed in the slightest, though; she still continued to stay silent and not put herself out there any more than she did before. She rarely spoke to me during school hours, but I found myself still trying to pry more into her life, trying to discover more of what motivated her to be the way she was. I'd mostly failed, as she never seemed to give me a second glance, except for those few times when I saw her in town or in my fourth period Geometry class. I, of course, knew that my friends had noticed my somewhat strange change in behavior after my absence, though they didn't vocalize it.

After a stressful day at school, I let my bag drop to the floor next to the couch in the small living area of my home as I flopped onto the couch. I pulled the laptop that my mother and I shared onto my lap and pulled up an internet window to check my e-mail. I found yet another new message from Erin, instantly reminding me of her last virtual message; the one that informed me of Esme's disappearance. _What could she need to tell me now?_ I thought as I clicked on the link that brought me into the message. It read:

"_Hey Carlisle,_

_Do you mind meeting me at our tree around 4PM today? I need 2 talk to u about something._

_~ Erin"_

After typing back a one-lined response to her request, I glanced at the clock. It was 3:30, so that gave me a little time to get down there and contemplate what exactly she needed to speak to me about.

I left the house only a few minutes after receiving Erin's message, and had made it to the tree in about twenty minutes. My watch read 3:53 by the time I reached my destination. I sunk to the ground to sit on one of the tree roots while I waited for my friend, and after a few moments of sitting there and staring at the sky, I heard footsteps approaching and none other than Erin stepped into the small area.

"Hey," I greeted her, standing up from my place on one of the long, stumpy tree roots. "So, you need to talk to me about something...?"

Erin nodded curtly, "Yeah. I do."

I made a slight gesture with my hand, asking her to proceed, "Well, then, go ahead. We've got time." Erin paused for a few moments, as if she were unsure of how to bring up the subject of which she needed to speak with me about. She chewed on her lip for a few seconds – a habit she had from the moment I met her – before taking in a deep breath and beginning to speak.

"Okay, so, it's about that Esme chick again," she began, before I abruptly cut her off.

"Her name is Esme. Not 'that chick' or 'the emo girl' or anything else."

"Okay, okay. Esme. Well... that day a few days ago, when you were absent... she wasn't there, either. Where were you? I mean, Carlisle, you _never_ get sick. You've got, like, the most amazing immune system ever. There's no way you were sick that day." _So that's what this is about,_ I thought, stifling a light sigh. She, yet again, was fretting over my friendship – well, I don't even think it was a friendship, really – with Esme. Could I really just lie to Erin about that? Lie to my best friend?

"Fine, you're right. I wasn't sick." Yeah, I guess I just didn't have the guts in me.

"Then where were you? I tried calling your house, Carlisle, and no one picked up. I also tried your cell and it just went straight to your voice-mail. You know, an explanation for that would be pleasant," my friend replied. Slightly chewing on the inside of my cheek, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and leaned my shoulder against the tree.

"Well... I was with Esme. Y'know, just hanging out." My gaze was glued to the ground, refusing to be torn away from its spot to look up at Erin.

"You skipped school to hang out with _her_?"

"Yes. Your point?"

"Carlisle, you and I both know that you're most definitely not that stupid. For starters, you're a straight-freaking-A student and would never ditch school, and number two... Really? _Her?_"

I stifled a light sigh and finally brought my gaze back up to meet hers, "Erin, why do you have such a problem with her? The last time she came up in a conversation between you and I, well, you got all pissed off at me for talking to her. What don't you like about me being friends with her?" Erin paused here, her lips slightly parted, giving me the impression that she was about to shoot back a retort to my question. Her voice formed no words for the next few moments that dragged by like hours as I waited for her response. I let my calm gaze settle on hers once more, slightly rising my eyebrows as if I were saying, 'Are you going to answer me or not?' After a couple more year-long minutes, Erin's soft voice uttered five words:

"Because I _like_ you, Carlisle."

"You...what?"

She sighed exasperatedly, "I _like you!_ What part do you not understand? I mean, you're smart, you're caring, kind, and not to mention it, but...well, you're handsome, too. You're also my best friend," she paused for a few seconds, "and I... I don't want you to like _her_. I've known you for years, Carlisle. Years. I've liked you for all that time, too, I've just never had the guts to say it or anything, and it's just... you don't even... ugh!" She then dropped to her knees on the grass, burying her face in her hands. Involuntarily, I knelt next to her and gently placed my hand on her shoulder.

Well, this for sure complicated things.

I couldn't yet say at this point that I really '_liked_' her back. I also couldn't yet say that I liked Esme in that way, either. But at the same time, the difference between my feelings towards Erin and my feelings towards Esme was like a gaping hole, to say the least. Erin, obviously, was my best friend and had been since I'd come to this town; she also was like a sister to me, and I would have never once thought that dating her would be a likely occurrence for the two of us. Esme, on the other hand... well, she was different. I wasn't sure if I could really call her a friend of mine, but whenever I was near her, that little inkling of that one little emotion that I couldn't seem to decipher always set itself in the front of my mind and gradually grew more and more as I spent more time with her. As that tiny emotion grew, I often wondered if the feeling was mutual between the two of us.

I didn't realize until I felt Erin's light touch removing my hand from her shoulder that I had been staring off into nowhere, lost in my own little world of thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Carlisle," she whispered. "I'm so, so very sorry."

"What for? Having emotions?"

"No, just for... everything. But most definitely this."

I made a movement to raise one eyebrow in confusion at her statement, but then my wonders slipped from my mind as she leaned in and forcefully crushed her lips to mine.


	9. Chapter Nine

**So, what did you all think of Erin's little issue there? XD Predictable? Surprising?**

**Anyway, so... chapter nine... I'm hoping this one will be updated rather soon (since I'm only starting it right now as I type this, and really have no idea when it will be finished)...and...erm...yeah.**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

_Oh, God. My first kiss. I'm having my first kiss... with my best friend. That's pretty awkward. _For a few seconds, I let Erin just kiss me without making any moves to pull away. I didn't kiss her back, though, and she must have noticed this when she pulled away, her eyes completely filled with shock and embarrassment as her cheeks flushed a bright red.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Carlisle, I-I... I shouldn't have, please forgive me -" Erin pleaded, before I yet again cut off her sentence with a raise of my hand.

"Don't be sorry for how you feel," I replied softly. "That's nothing to apologize for."

"But... but... I _kissed you_ – oh, dammit, what are Clark and Ryan to think? Jesus Christ, they're gonna kill us! Damn, I'm so _stupid_ -"

"You're not stupid, Erin. You did what you wanted to do on an impulse and it turned into... that. If Clark and Ryan get upset over it, well, sucks to be them," I replied calmly, trying my hardest to keep my voice from breaking as I was still in shock from the few moments before. Erin still had her gaze fixed on the ground, kneading her hands together.

"I, um... I should get home. I told my dad that I'd be back in half an hour. Uh, see you at school tomorrow," she replied quickly, avoiding my gaze that I knew she could feel settled on her still. She hastily stood up and started off in the opposite direction, leaving me sitting dumbfounded on the grass under the tree. I sighed lightly and pulled myself to my feet, beginning to walk towards the town park. Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I trudged through the new spring grass towards the playground inhabited by a few of the smaller kids from the manor school. I watched them out of the corner of my eye, watched as they ran around, giggled, and played, without a care or worry in the world. I thought of how much easier things would be if I could go back to that age, if I could go back to being six or seven years old and my biggest concern was whether or not I was going to get the newest super hero action figure for Christmas or my birthday. When I didn't have to worry too deeply about the emotions of others, when I didn't have to concern myself with future plans, friends, work, grades, and most definitely not what others thought of me, if you know what I mean. I sat myself on one of the unoccupied swings at the end of the swing set, gently pushing the swing back and forth with my foot on the ground, my hands still in my pockets. If only.

I sat on that swing for quite some time, contemplating the whole encounter with Erin. Though I had dismissed it as nothing, she was right about one thing: what would the other two think? As I was brought up, I'd been taught to not give a care as to what others thought of me, to continue with my own life and leave behind anyone who dared try to stop me. See, that was what made my father such an amazing man. For the eight short years that my mother and I had lived with him, he'd taught me so much about life, how to live, how to deal with things. When my parents divorced the couple years before my mother and myself moved to California, it was extremely difficult for me to cope with. My mother had never been the best parent in the world – don't get me wrong, I still love her unconditionally, but she's most definitely not the type of mother that a young child would wish to have. My father, on the other hand, was an amazing person. For year after year, we would spend every free moment we had together. Whether it was playing baseball outside or simply sitting in the basement while he tried to teach me simple techniques on that old, roughed up acoustic guitar of his. I don't think any young boy could have loved his father more than I did; he was my role model, the one person in the world that I strived to be just like. He was always smiling, and the way his eyes wrinkled when he smiled at me couldn't help but make me smile myself. Whenever he had to work weekends, he'd let me tag along with him. I even knew every one of his colleagues and knew my way around his work place like the back of my hand. He had even gotten me my first animal companion; a young golden retriever named Jasper, that unfortunately was hit by a car within the next year after we had welcomed him into our family.

Then the drinking started.

I had noticed the he and my mother had begun to shy away from each other, almost, whenever home together. After I had gone to bed every night, I'd lay awake and listen to the two arguing with each other over a number of different subjects; my father's work, the house, money, me, and countless other things that I've nearly forgotten about over the years. I'd gradually noticed that my father would start working later hours into the night and go into the basement where he had his bed set up as soon as he returned home from the long hours he worked. I barely got to spend much time with him anymore; my routine consisted of going to school, hanging around with the few friends I had back there in New York, then coming home, eating dinner with only my mother, and then going to bed and, night after night, listening to the arguments that took place downstairs. Then, one night, my father never came home. I laid awake in my bed for countless hours, and when I knew that my mother was sound asleep, I crept down into the pitch-black basement to explore around the makeshift bedroom that was set up down there. Turning on a flashlight, I had opened drawers, looked under the bed, and taken books off the shelves, only to find in each of these places a stash of empty beer bottles and packs of cigarettes. I had bitten down on my lip, remembering everything we had been taught in school about smoking, drugs and alcohol. I dropped the flashlight on the floor, not bothering to turn it off, before silently running back up to my room and lying awake for the rest of the night, thinking endlessly about why my beloved father would do such a thing, how he could bear it to betray his wife and son in such a way.

A few more days had passed after my encounter in the basement, and he still hadn't returned home. The first night of his disappearance, I had simply thought that he had to work the night shift for overtime. As day after day passed and there was still no sign of him, I began to worry. I repeatedly asked my mother if she knew where he had gone to, and her answer was the same every time: 'No, Carlisle, I have no idea. He'll come back eventually.' About a week had gone by since he disappeared, and just as I was about to ask my mother yet again if she had heard anything from him, the phone rang. I hesitantly answered it with a shaky voice, only to hear a voice asking for my mother. I handed the phone to her, and anxiously waited for her to hang up with whoever was on the phone so she could tell me what the whole thing was about. Her eyebrows knitted together a few seconds after I had handed her the phone, and the next few minutes of the conversation on her end consisted of many 'okay's and 'uh-huh's and things of the sort, before she finally said, "I'll be right down there. Thank you." I looked at her worriedly as she grabbed my arm and towed me towards the coat closet, grabbing my coat and handing it to me hastily as she grabbed her own.

"Mom, what's going on?" I had asked her, biting down on my lip.

"We've gotta go down to the hospital. Apparently they found your father and brought him there."

"Is he hurt?"

"You'll find out when we get there, honey," she replied, before towing me outside and into the car.

The car ride to the hospital had been one of the longest I had ever experienced in my short lifespan of around ten years. I had stared out the window, thoughts constantly running through my head about what could have possibly happened to my father that he was in the hospital. When we finally pulled into the parking lot, I jumped out of the car and began running towards the nearest entrance, before my mother caught me by the wrist and told me to slow down. I nodded shamefully, following her into the lobby and waiting as she asked what room my father had been placed in. A nurse pointed us in the right direction, and I again started running down the hallway, anxious to get into the room to observe the condition my father was in.

I burst into the room, and was greeted my the beeping of a heart monitor and the quiet dripping sound of an IV. I stared at the bed my father occupied, watching as he opened his eyes into the slits and gave me a groggy smile.

"Hey, bud," he had rasped, obviously fighting to keep his eyes open.

"What happened? Are you okay?" I inquired, walking up to his bed to stand at the edge of it. "Where've you been for the past week?"

"I've been... out." Just as I opened my mouth to ask where it was that he was 'out' to, my mother put her hand firmly on my shoulder and pulled me back a little bit.

"Carlisle, sweet heart, why don't you let me talk to him for a little while? There's a vending machine down the hall a little ways, go buy yourself a bag of chips or something," she told me, slipping a few quarters into my hand. I nodded sadly, trudging out of the room. Instead of following my mother's orders and going down to the vending machine, I hid outside the door, just around the corner so I was still in earshot of their conversation.

"Where the hell have you been, James?" I had heard my mother demand, "Your son has been worried sick. He probably thought you were dead!"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Amy. I had gone out with a few friends to this bar and I had a few too many beers, then I -"

"_Please_ tell me you didn't get behind the wheel of a car. _Please_ tell me you didn't drive like that."

"No, I didn't drive, Joe did. I thought he'd had less than I did, but apparently he didn't and we got into a little accident..." my father's voice had trailed off at that point.

"Little accident? You went missing for a _week_. They said on the phone that they had found you unconscious on the side of some curb. How the _hell_ is that a little accident, James?"

"Fine, so it wasn't little. I was conscious after it happened, but I didn't want to go home and face the consequences of what I did, okay? I just kinda started walking, then I tripped and fell and... well, I blacked out," my father responded.

"Well, you obviously woke up, cause there's no way you were passed out on a curb for a week. You could've at least called," my mother retorted. "Carlisle was asking me every day where you were. He was terrified. He didn't know where his dad was. Now we find out that you're in the hospital because you got in a car accident cause you were drunk, and you expect me to just let it go?"

"No, I don't expect you to get over it so easily -"

"Good, then. Because I'm _not_ going to get over it. I'm letting you sneak your way out of this one. You fucked up big time on this one, James." I heard my mother turn on her heel and begin to walk out towards the door, before my father's voice started again.

"No, Amy, don't go! I said I was sorry, what else do you want from me?" he nearly yelled to her.

"Divorce papers. That's what I want from you. I'm done with you, James, and so is _my_ son." At that, my mother came out of the room, slamming the door behind her and grabbing onto my arm, "Come on, We're going home."

I hadn't realized until I nearly fell off the swing I was still sitting on that I had blanked out for the past thirty minutes or so. There were still a few children playing outside, and I blinked a few times, clearing my head.

That was one week that I would never forget. That week, up until now, was the most stressful, worrying week I had ever experienced in my life. I'd always thought that it would be, until, that is, Esme went missing in the forest about a month ago.

I stood up to begin walking back home. My legs had fallen asleep during the time I had been sitting on the swing, and it took me a few moments to regain my full balance.

Those short few moments I had spent in the hospital room was the last encounter I had ever had with my father. I hadn't seen or spoken to him since. Thinking about that subject made me wonder what he was up to in present day, made me wonder whether or not he was even still alive. I knew perfectly well that my mother hadn't spoken to him in the past five years, either, so I didn't bother to ask her what she thought of the whole situation.

I sighed to myself as it began to lightly rain, sloshing my way through the puddles to the small ranch house on the edge of the village that I, unwillingly, called home.

**Okay... so... that chapter took an unexpected turn... honestly, I had no idea it was gonna turn into a chapter about Carlisle's past...**

**oh well. I guess you all have some info on Carlisle's parents now xP**

… **so... what didja think? Reviews make me a very happy person ;D**


	10. Chapter Ten

**I'm sorry for the long wait for the update... school, yet again, is a killer. -_- But, luckily, I've still scraped up some time to write chapter ten for all of you guys (that just so happens to be during math class when I don't feel like listening to the teacher =P). I hope you all enjoy it (:**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

More weeks had passed since I'd last spoken to either Esme or Erin, and the dreary weather of mid-April hadn't helped in lifting my melancholy spirits in the slightest. Nobody had dared speak to me about my somewhat recent encounter with Erin by the tree, and she herself didn't bother to give me more than a second glance whenever I caught her gaze in the hallways. She'd stopped coming to meet Ryan, Clark and myself after school as she used to, and ever the two other guys seemed as if they were beginning to avoid me more and more with each day that passed. I'd taken to simply going from class to class and day to day without any social contact with anyone, unless, of course, they took the initiative and spoke to me first.

This routine of mine continued on for a number of weeks, during which I had acquired a job at the local café; the one that my friends and I often visited. I'd only been working in the small town coffee-shop for about a week and a half when none other than Esme decided to pay me a visit.

The delicate jingle of the door chime signaled her entrance on a dismal Wednesday afternoon. She walked silently up to the counter where I stood, pulling a few dollar bills out of her pocket as she glanced up at the menu. She then ordered a small mocha, and watched my every move as I filled the cup and handed it to her. She began to turn around to walk out the door and back into the cold, spring rain, but then must have changed her mind as she turned back around to face me once again.

"Come sit down with me?" she offered, making a small gesture towards a table near the wall. I nodded eagerly before informing one of the higher-ranked employees that I was taking my break and following her over to the table, pulling up a chair.

"So what brings you here?" I asked casually, resting my elbows on the table in a carefree manner. She took a small sip of her coffee before she responded.

"Well, I don't want to seem creepy about bringing this up, but... you're dating that girl? Her name is Erin, right?"

I blinked in astonishment, "Huh? What makes you think that?"

"I, um... well, I saw you two at that oak tree a few weeks back. You looked like you were, uh... having a tender moment." She suddenly became fascinated with the black paint finish on the table in front of us, as if she were embarrassed.

Running my fingers through my tousled blonde hair, I replied, "No, we're not dating. She just had to tell me something and got a bit... carried away. That's all."

"Really? Cause it sure looked like you two were a couple. Your faces were basically glued together -"

I cut off her sentence by holding up my hand, "I know, I know. I can definitely assure you that we are _not_ going out."

"Then what was up with all the tongue dancing?"

_Tongue dancing? What the hell?_ I shook off the thought and responded, "She kissed me first. I didn't want her to, but she just kinda forced it upon me."

"But you kissed back. Didn't you?"

"No. I did not kiss her back. We both felt badly about it afterward – but, really, what is the huge deal? Does that upset you or something?"

She paused for a few short moments, taking another sip of her coffee to most likely try and buy herself some time, "No, not in the slightest."

I studied her face, "So you came all the way here just to talk to me about Erin? That doesn't seem like you."

"Well, no. I came here cause I felt like getting myself a cup of coffee and... I felt like talking to you. That just happened to run through my mind, 'cause I saw her on my way here. She looked like she was running away from something – or someone – though. It was kinda weird."

I felt as my forehead creased in consternation, "Running from who?"

Esme shrugged, "No idea. She just looked really upset about something; I didn't see anyone going after her, though. Who knows, maybe she was just trying to get out of the rain."

"Possible," I replied, nodding slightly. "Anyway, um, I gotta get back to my shift. Are you free later?" I asked innocently.

"Yes... do you want to hang out or something?"

I smiled encouragingly, "If you'd like to."

To my pleasant surprise, Esme cracked a slight smile back, "That sounds great. How about in the park?"

"Works for me. I'll see you in about an hour." I stood up from my chair and smiled at Esme one last time before walking back around to the counter and watching her walk swiftly out the café door.

##

The last hour of my shift at the coffee-shop seemed to drag on for what felt like forever as I waited for the clock to strike four. After a very slow tick of the minute hand, I punched out and, grabbing my coat, walked out of the door and started towards the park. _I'm making progress here, _I thought, stuffing my hands in my pockets as I walked down the slippery sidewalk, _I finally get to just hang out with her. Casually, that is. It's not like we're stuck in a forest all night again._ My eyes wheeled around, searching for Esme as I entered the park. I spent a few minutes looking for her, before I felt a light tap on my shoulder and her midnight blue eyes greeted me on the other side.

"Oh... hi." I smiled, hoping my cheeks weren't flushing into a bright red.

"Hey," she replied. "Want to go sit in the gazebo? It's still raining pretty hard." I nodded and followed her over to the gazebo that sat directly in the middle of the area, taking a seat on the bench inside. It seemed that her and I were the only two people in the park; I assumed that everyone else had been more intelligent and taken shelter inside a warm building rather than an outdoor gazebo. Esme took a seat next to me, sitting closer than usual but still keeping a few inches radius between our bodies. An awkward silence passed between the two of us for a few moments before I mustered up the courage to break it.

"So, what have you been up to?"

She paused before answering my cliched question, "Nothing much; school, babysitting my little sister. Not anything too grand."

I blinked, not recalling that certain piece of information, "You have a littler sister?"

"Yeah; her name is Alice. She's ten years old."

"Oh, that's cool."

Esme smirked lightly, "Eh, not really. Don't you have any siblings?"

I shook my head, "Nope. Only child." She gave a small nod and turned her gaze to the floor of the gazebo. Watching her make this movement reminded me of the last time I had spoken to her in the forest; it brought back the memories of the brief description that she had given me about her personal life and the horrors it entailed. Thinking about that for a few moments led me to the thought that Esme often worried excessively over her younger sister, which would explain her frequent absences from school. After what she had told me about her father, the thought had never occurred to me that she endured the torture he inflicted upon her to protect her sister. Then, without thinking, I suddenly blurted:

"How's your dad been?"

Still staring at the wooden floor, the emotion in Esme's eyes drained and a black stare came into its place instead.

"He's been fine," she murmured. "Hasn't been home very often."

I gulped, deeply regretting my question as my cheeks flushed a bright red, "Well... that's good?"

"Yeah. Alice isn't too fond of his absence, though."

I raised one eyebrow, "She doesn't know about... what he does?" I pressed, trying desperately to make my extremely personal question as discreet as possible. She seemed to be trying to blink back a few stray tears before she answered my inquiry.

"No." Her voice was nearly inaudible as she continued, "She doesn't know about anything... because I shield her from it. Whenever he's around, drunk or sober, I try to hide her. I'd rather that he hurt me than lay a finger on her. She's young; she shouldn't have to endure that level of trauma at her age."

"Why don't you call the police on him?" I asked hastily.

She paused for a few seconds, "He would know that it was me if the cops showed up at the house. I can't risk that."

"But if they took him away, he wouldn't be able to hurt you," I pointed out.

"Then Alice and I would be taken into foster care," Esme replied matter-of-factly.

"What about relatives? You could stay with them, couldn't you?"

"No. There's none nearby, and... well, they wouldn't welcome me into their home, anyway." She must have noticed the questioning and rather confused look on my face, because she then continued, "You see, they blame me for... my mother's death." She once again looked away to the wooden floorboards of the gazebo that sheltered us from the cold rain as she said this.

"They do?"

She nodded, "I was wither when she died. They all think that it is my fault."

Following her gaze and shifting awkwardly, I asked, "If you don't mind me asking... how did she die?"

"... Car accident," she whispered. "A truck was about to hit me, so she knocked me out of the way... she got hit instead... and died on impact." I closed my slightly parted lips, staring at her as she kneaded her hands together in an attempt to occupy herself.

"I-I... I'm so sorry," I said softly.

Esme didn't seem to acknowledge my atonement as she continued, "We had been planning a day of enjoyment for a while. We didn't get to 'hang out' with each other very much, if you will; she worked a lot and Alice had to come along most of the time. She'd said a few months before that we'd soon take a day for just the two of us, to go into town to shop and what not. We had to postpone the date several times, 'cause things like work or school would always come up and we'd have to cancel. But, finally, we got to have that day. It was a really nice day out, sunny, not cloudy and all that, so we decided to walk into town instead of taking the car. We'd shopped around for a little while, talked, laughed, everything. The first half of the day was the best I'd ever had in my life; I'd been longing for so long to be able to just talk with my mom, to be able to just be with her without my father or sister around. After we'd walked around the whole town, we decided to go get some ice cream shop that was nearby, so we started walking there. It was lunch hour on a Friday – I had the day off from school – so the roads were pretty busy with all the people trying to make their way to a fast-food restaurant so they wouldn't be late to work on their way back. We reached the edge of the road, getting ready to cross. I had begun to step out onto the road, when a van came bustling towards me and my mother grabbed my wrist to pull me back onto the sidewalk.

'Be careful, dear,' she had said, not loosening her tight grip on my wrist, 'we don't want you getting hit by a car. Now wait until it's completely clear; then we can cross.' I nodded and looked back and forth a few times, then when my mother gave the signal, we both started walking across the road to the ice cream shop. We'd barely gotten halfway across the road before a huge freight truck came hustling down the road. Hearing the loud honk of the horn, I stopped in my tracks and stared at the oncoming vehicle, terrified. The truck was about ten feet in front of me when I felt a shove from the side and I went tumbling across the road. Just as I stood up and turned around to see who had pushed me out of the way, the truck came in straight contact with my mom and struck her down. The driver didn't even stop after he hit her; just kept driving, like a typical hut-and-run accident. I stood there petrified for a few split seconds before I ran over to her body that lay in the middle of the street. Most of her bones were broken and her limbs were askew at different angles as her sightless eyes stared up at me from the ground. I sobbed and shook her body over and over again, until I finally realized that it was lifeless and never to be animate again. I'm not sure how long I sat there over her body, but I remember an employee at one of the local cafés coming out to the scene and calling 911. The ambulances and police cars arrived in a matter of minutes... but she was already gone. I don't remember much of what happened after that, but one of the policemen took me back to the station where my father picked me up and took me home. I stayed out of school for about a week after her death, and during that week was when my father really started to change. He'd always been an alcoholic, and I'd known that for years before the incident. He'd stopped drinking as heavily for around a year, but after my mother's passing, he started right back up again. This continued for several months, and just when I thought that he was finally starting to cope with her being gone a little bit better, it only got worse. By that time, my birthday had passed and I'd turned ten. Alice was only five at the time, so she didn't understand any of what was going on with my father. For all she thought, he just had a bad day at work whenever he would come home and start drinking or doing whatever he did at night. After I had put Alice to bed, he'd be drunk beyond sense. He would go on rampages and hit me and yell at me, telling me that it was my entire fault that my mother had died the way she did. This continued for a few years, but it wasn't until I was about thirteen that the..." Esme paused here for a few seconds, taking in a shaky breath before she spoke the next horrifying words, "... that was when the sexual abuse started. He'd drink even more than he ever did before, then he... he'd start on me. It was like my punishment for causing him to be miserable, it was him trying to torture me into being a better daughter. I had no choice but to let him abuse me in that manner night after night; after all, I was only thirteen and couldn't do much about it. I had to constantly wear long sleeves and pants to school to hide the cuts and bruises he'd given me. As for the face wounds, well, I had to wear excessive amounts of makeup to conceal it. To this day, he still hasn't stopped doing... that... to me. He doesn't do it as often anymore, but still does it nonetheless. It's at those times when I think the most about how things would be if my mother were still alive. I'd probably live a normal life with a normal family. I'm honestly surprised that he hasn't killed me yet; but, sometimes... sometimes, I just wish that he would." It was at this point Esme finished, her arms were wrapped tightly around her herself and her eyes were squeezed shut in an attempt to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill over. I was left speechless, the only form of comfort I could give to her was placing my hand lightly around her shoulders and pulling her into my side. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead upon them, her body shaking with gentle sobs.

"I-I'm sorry, Carlisle," she choked, "I shouldn't have told you all that."

I shook my head and gave her shoulders a squeeze, "No. It's better that I know."

She lifted her head a few inches off of her knees and looked at me with swollen, tear-filled eyes, "Why?"

Giving her a small encouraging smile, I stared deep into her gorgeous, dark blue eyes and asked softly, "Because it'd be right for me to know these things about you... that is, if you'd like to do me the honor of becoming my girlfriend."

… **um...yeah.**

**Thoughts, comments, concerns? Reviews always put a smile on my face after enduring yet another one of these gross and snowy winter days :P **


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Oh my god. Okay, I officially HATE OpenOffice with a _burning passion._ I had tons written down for this chapter, and then, on a whim, it just deleted everything. EVERYTHING. A tip of advice to other writers out there: _Never, ever, ever, EVER in your life get OpenOffice. Stick with Microsoft Word or whatever you use that is NOT OpenOffice._**

**So, let's see if I remember what I had written. Some of it was in a notebook and some wasn't, so we'll see what happens with this. But most of what I have written in the notebook was written at two in the morning, so that might be a bit iffy anyway. XD **

_**Esme Platt**_

"You... you want me to... date you?" For the few silent moments that followed my response, Carlisle and I had just stared at each other, the entire environment seeming completely silent as I contemplated his offer and struggled to get a firm grasp on what exactly he was asking. My eyes were dried from the tears that had filled them only a few minutes before as I straightened my posture and ran a hand through my hair, "I... I'd love to, Carlisle."

His eyes immediately lightened as soon as the words left my lips and he gave my shoulders another gentle squeeze, "You really want to?" he asked with a grin.

I let the corners of my mouth turn up into a small, content smiled as I slightly shifted closer to him, "Most definitely." I paused for a second, "Will your friends be angry?"

He sighed lightly and thought for a few moments, "They shouldn't be; it's not their place to be angry about that. We should keep quiet about it for a little while though, just to be safe. Actually, we could probably tell Ryan. He'd be okay with it... but Clark's a bit of a loudmouth, and Erin... its... its just best that she not know for now."

"Sure." I nodded. "So...what now?"

"We should probably find somewhere to go that's not out in the rain... want to go find somewhere?" Carlisle asked, blinking innocently as he awaited my reply.

I gave a small nod in response, "Sure. It's pretty cold out here." Over the past few moments, I had begun to shiver from, so I thought, the piercing cold rain that pelted against the roof of the gazebo and slipped through the cracks in the old wood. Still, though, I hadn't yet acquired a firm hold on the fact that Carlisle and myself were now, actually and officially, a couple.

"Esme?" Carlisle's soft voice broke the trance-like state my mind had been set it, snapping me back into reality. "You coming?"

"Oh...yes," I replied, beginning to stand up from my seat on the bench. It wasn't until a few split seconds after that I noticed Carlisle's tentative hand outstretched towards me in an offer to help me up. Gently taking his hand, I pulled myself into a standing position, cracking a slight smile as Carlisle's fingers closed around mine.

"Where to?" I asked softly, letting my hand mold its way into his.

"Um... we could go bowling at the alley down in town. That could be fun," he answered with a smile.

"Sounds great." Returning his carefree smile, I followed him out into the spring rain and towards our destination, all the while grinning like a young child on Christmas morning and feeling happier than I had in years.

##

The next few days of the week passed by effortlessly, due to my new unbridled joy. My uplifted spirits had been noticed by not only myself but others as well, including quite a few people at school – who now took the initiative to speak to me – and my younger sister, Alice. She'd obviously noticed it more so than the others, because she was the only one who gained enough curiosity to ask me about it.

"Hey, Ez?" she asked, calling me by my commonly-used nickname that was reserved for only her use. "Why are you so happy lately?"

I looked over my shoulder at her from my place at the kitchen table, "What do you mean, 'why am I so happy'?"

"You've been different in the past few days. You keep smiling all the time and stuff," Alice responded.

I laughed quietly to myself before fully turning around to face her, "If I tell you, will you promise not to tell Daddy when he comes home?"

"Why can't Daddy know?"

"I just don't want him to know. It'll be our little secret, okay?" Alice nodded and I smiled again, putting my hands on her little shoulders, "I got myself a boyfriend."

Her face immediately lit up with a wide grin, "Really?"

My head bobbed up and down in an enthusiastic nod, "Really. His name's Carlisle. He's _so_ sweet; you'd absolutely adore him."

"When can I meet him?" Alice inquired, her mouth surprisingly managing to form words around her wide grin.

I paused for a few moments, thinking. Not wanting to disappoint my joyful younger sister, I replied, "Not sure. I'll ask him and see if we can work something out."

Alice giggled and threw her small arms around my shoulders, enclosing me in a tight hug, "I'm so happy for you, Ez. Who knows, maybe you two will grow up and get married!"

Gently hugging her back, I laughed nervously and answered, "Maybe. But don't count on that happening anytime soon, hun. We're only fifteen."

"Still older than me." She fake-pouted for a second before breaking down into a fit of giggles and bounding off to somewhere else in the house, leaving me sitting alone in the kitchen. Sighing lightly, I leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. The chair creaked under my weight, but I ignored the sound, my mind drifting off to a much different place. I knew I could trust Alice, if anyone, but like all ten-year-olds, she had a tendency to say things that shouldn't be said around people who shouldn't be hearing them. If she were to slip up about my new-found relationship with Carlisle around my father, I was certain that it'd be the end of any further contact with Carlisle, and possibly even worse.

"I shouldn't think about that," I murmured to myself, letting my eyelids slide shut. Before long, I had drifted off into a relaxing slumber.

##

"Jesus Christ! What is that?" I exclaimed, being startled from my sleep and muttering a short string of profanities to myself as I fished around for the buzzing electronic device in my pocket. Finally, I yanked out the small cell phone and looked at the screen, where it informed me that Carlisle was trying to get a hold of me.

"Yes?" I said in greeting, flipping open the phone and holding it to my ear, "What do you need?"

"Are you free right now?" came Carlisle's voice from the other end. "I was wondering if you'd want to spend some time with me and... and Ryan."

I blinked in astonishment, "You mean your friend Ryan?"

"Yeah. I think it'd be good if you two got to know each other a little bit." I could picture him smiling as he said this.

"Sure, I'm free. Where?" I replied.

"Actually, I'll meet you on the corner of your street. Is that all right?"

"Of course. See you in a few minutes, then." I hung up the phone and smiled to myself before calling up the stairs to my sister, "Alice, I'm gonna go out for a little while. Are you gonna be okay here by yourself?" Her answer was inarticulate to my ears, but I made out enough of her reply to know that she meant 'yes'. Grabbing a light jacket, I made my way out the door and waited for Carlisle to appear. He did so a few minutes later, smiling gently and holding out his hand for mine.

"So where exactly are we going to meet your friend?" I questioned, taking his hand and beginning to follow him as he started to walk.

"You know that big oak tree in the park?" he replied. I nodded. "That's where we're going. He's gonna meet us there."

"So I'm worthy of the tree now?" I commented with a slight smirk.

He wore the same smile on his face as I turned to face him, "Of course you are. Any significant other of one of the 'members of the group' is always permitted," he explained, putting air-quotes around 'members of the group'. It was then that we reached the park, entering onto the moist, spring grass and making our way to the back of the area where the oak tree towered above the ground. It cast a shadow across the soil, from which emerged a boy about Carlisle's height with a head of shaggy, light brown hair, his eye color only a few shades darker. He walked towards Carlisle and I, lightly punching Carlisle in the shoulder before looking at me and holding his hand out for me to shake.

"I'm Ryan," he said, introducing himself with a friendly smile.

"Esme," I replied, shaking his hand, then afterwards stuffing them both in the pockets of my sweatshirt. Ryan then looked at Carlisle and raised an eyebrow, a smirk replacing the smile he had worn beforehand.

"So this is her, huh?" he murmured, the smirk growing wider.

Carlisle nodded slightly and looked down at the grass, his cheeks flushing into a bright pink, "Uh...yeah." I glanced between the two, confused, before asking:

"What do you mean?"

Ryan's smirk grew into a wide grin as he let out a short laugh, "Carlisle _never_ shuts up about you. He goes on and on and on and on and...on. Which, obviously means, that he _so totally lik_ -" Before he could finish his sentence, Carlisle leaned over and whacked him in the arm. Ryan laughed and whacked his friend back, rolling his eyes, "You know its true."

Carlisle sighed and shifted awkwardly, "Well, um, yeah... that's why I wanted to bring her to meet you, 'cause I figured that you should know that we're... err..." He paused for a second, gulping nervously, "dating."

Ryan's eyes widened and he glanced between the two of us a few times, "Seriously? You two? _Together_?" I mirrored Carlisle's actions, looking down embarrassingly as I felt my cheeks heat up with blush. The boy then burst into another grin, "That's cool. Does anyone else know yet? 'Cause school's gonna be hell for you two if it gets around..."

"As far as I know, nobody else but you and my little sister know; unless, of course, Carlisle opened his big mouth." I threw a skeptical glance in his direction, but then cheered it up with a small smirk.

Carlisle shook his head in denial, "Nope. I didn't tell anyone else."

"Good... but... are you gonna tell Erin?" Ryan inquired, his voice getting quieter towards the end of his question as he aimed his gaze at Carlisle. My... _boyfriend_ (I guess I better get used to using that word), once again, shook his head.

"Not for a while. Just don't let it slip, okay?" he responded.

"Yup. Sure thing." The three of us stayed quiet for a few moments, before Ryan brought up the subject of my being new to the school this year. We continued chatting for quite some time, until dusk finally began to fall and I made my way back home, hoping with all my might that my father hadn't returned back to the house, and that the next day, and many more to come, would bring more joy and hilarity.

**...there's chapter eleven for you. Sorry that it wasn't too exciting; it was more of a filler chapter to keep a little distance between the last few chapters and my next plot climax XD but, as per usual, reviews make me experience "unbridled joy and hilarity" XD **


	12. Chapter Twelve

**So... chapter twelve. I just need to tell you guys this ahead of time: I just got this freaking _huge_ English project assigned today in class (I also have a Global paper due at the end of this month _)... so that's gonna be eating up my time until it's due in the end of April, then directly after that I have a chorus competition out of state, so I'm pretty tight for time as of now. But I promise you all that I'll try to scratch some chapters down during all of this. I've got an eleven hour bus ride down to the chorus comp, and since I'm unable to sleep at night on a moving vehicle, I'll have quite a while to write some things down XD I greatly apologize for this.. I feel like I'm always saying the same thing over again, that I have very little time for my fanfic... I hate that this happens. _ I'm sincerely sorry. This school year is eating me alive.**

**But... well.. enjoy chapter twelve :P**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

_Knock, knock_. A gentle smile greeted me on the other side of the mahogany door only a few seconds after I rapped my fist against it. She was dressed in attire very much opposed to her usual; a thin white pullover, along with a pair of fitted dark blue jeans, only a shade or two darker than the stunning midnight blue eyes that accompanied her smile.

"Hi," Esme said as a soft greeting. I leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"Hey," I responded, pulling back with a grin spread across my face. "Is your sister around?"

Esme's brows raised in question as a small smirk slid onto her lips, "You want to meet her?"

"Of course."

"All right, then... she's a bit shy at first... sometimes." She then turned and called her sister's name up the stairs. Loud pounding came from the floor above before a little girl with sleek, black shoulder-length hair appeared at the bottom. She was only about a head shorter than Esme, and at a first glance, one would never think that they were related in any way. Esme's facial features were soft, rounded and heart-like, almost, in opposition to her sister's, which were much more sharp and pixie-like. It made me wonder as to how she was only ten years old.

"Alice, this is Carlisle," Esme told her, making a small gesture in my direction. Alice looked up at me, studying my face before her eyes swept over the rest of my body, taking in the awkward and gangly form of a mid-adolescent boy.

"So you're her boyfriend?" the young girl asked, her dark eyes lifting back up to meet my gaze.

I successfully hid a small smirk that was threatening at the corners of my mouth before answering, "Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you." I gave her a warm smile and held out my hand for her to shake with her much smaller one. She hesitated for a second before tentatively taking it and giving it a light, nervous shake.

"Ez said that you're really sweet," Alice said next. The smirk pulling at my lips finally won the battle and slid its way into sight.

"Did she now?" I glanced at Esme standing next to who, who looked towards the floor and blushed tremendously.

"It's true," she murmured, then afterwards looking at Alice, "so has he earned your approval?" Alice scanned my body and face once again with her eyes, before letting a small smile slide onto her lips and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Yup," she giggled. "You two seem cute together. Now keep it that way." She grinned once more before bounding off in the direction of the kitchen. Esme took in a deep breath as soon as her sister left, then let it out in a sigh of relief.

"That went better than I thought it would," she commented.

"Did you think it would go badly?" I questioned.

"No. She just tends to make things... kinda awkward sometimes." Esme laughed nervously. "You want to go out for a little while? Take a walk or something?"

"Sure." I smiled once more and gently took her hand in mine, turning to make my way out the door. She gratefully held onto my hand and followed me, shutting the door behind her.

"If I didn't know that she was your sister, I honestly would have never thought that you two were related," I commented, walking down the sidewalk that led into town.

"A lot of people usually say that," Esme responded. "She looks more like my dad... I resemble my mother."

"Personality-wise, too. She seems very..." I let my sentence trail off, unsure of what adjective to describe the young girl.

"Bubbly?"

I nodded, "Yeah. Bubbly."

Esme took in another deep breath, letting her eyes wander, "She has kind of a blabber-mouth too, sometimes. Well, all ten-year-olds do, but... I just hope she doesn't... let anything slip."

Knowing exactly what she meant, I gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "Nothing bad is going to happen. You can trust me on that."

"I hope so." It was at the we reached the heart of the town and headed towards the café. I bought us both cups of coffee, and after getting my change back, proceeded to walk back out into the relatively warm spring climate. Esme willingly followed me, catching up to my pace and falling into step at my side.

"I saw Erin again yesterday," she commented a few seconds later.

"You did?"

"Yes. She gave me this look, like he knew about you and I or something." With my free hand, I reached out and gave hers a gentle squeeze.

"I can assure you that she has no idea. Ryan would never let that slip; especially since we told him not to," I reassured her while she took another small sip of her coffee.

"You're positive?" she inquired, her voice acquiring a hint of uneasiness.

"Absolutely." I gave her hand another squeeze and smiled lightly.

"I'm hoping that Alice won't tell, either," she continued softly. "You know how kids her age can be. They let things like that slip easily."

"Your father won't be able to hurt you if he finds out, Esme," I responded. "Not with me on your side. I doubt anyone else would let that happen, either. You have nothing to worry about."

"But what if he tries to hurt _you_?" Her voice grew quieter with each word and contained less of am apprehensive tone, but more of one of concern for my behalf.

"He won't," was my simple answer. "He won't lay a finger on you or I."

"You don't know that, Carlisle. He's unpredictable; you never know when he's around the corner." I felt her fingers tighten around mine while her gaze remained fixed on the ground before us. "I just don't want you to suffer because I have a messed up dad." By then, we'd reached a more secluded area of the town; only a few people inhabited this far-off region of what I assumed was still the town park.

A gentle smile slid onto my lips, "What do I have to do to make you believe me?"

Esme lightly shook her head, "I don't know. This has just been bothering me a lot lately." I set my cup of coffee down on a picnic table, before turning to face her and lightly wrapping my arms around her rather petite form. Suddenly, I felt as if I were being watched by an unseen being from behind the thick lining of trees, but I did my best to ignore the awkward sensation of a pair of eyes resting on my back.

"Don't stress yourself out," I murmured, slightly tightening my arms around her body. "Nothing bad is going to happen."

"If anything does, I'm blaming myself," Esme mumbled in response.

"No, you won't. It's not your responsibility to take the blame for something that won't even happen. It's my job as your boyfriend to be able to protect you." I paused for a moment or two, contemplating my next move. _It can't be that bad... she won't mind..._ After dismissing the thought from my brain, I said softly, "It's also my job to do this." I lightly put my finger under her chin and tilted her head up towards me, then tentatively bowed my head and delicately brushed my lips against hers. To my pleasant surprise, she did not pull away and, lightly as a ghost, placed her hand on the back of my neck. A soft rustling sound came from the foliage behind the two of us as the unseen being from a few moments before silently crept out of his cover. Once again feeling the sensation of being watched, I grudgingly pulled away from the kiss and let my eyes wander over to the dark form standing about twenty feet away from our position by the picnic table. Watching as the villain raised his arm and pointed some sort of weapon in our direction, I quickly shoved Esme behind my body as the pace of my breathing picked up.

"Esme, go," I rasped, "Run. Get the hell out of here." Before she could even open her mouth to protest, a gunshot echoed through the quiet air as the dark man pulled the trigger of his weapon.

Everything then seemed as if it were in slow motion; the microscopic bullet whistled through the air, its path heading straight for my upper body. My feet suddenly become concreted to my spot in the grass, so I instead tried to shove Esme further behind me, hopefully forcing her to run away. I didn't recall whether or not she had escaped from the scene before the small object shot its way into the side of my head, the impact feeling as if a thousand crystal bowls had just been shattered inside of my skull. The sound of the agonized noise that escaped my mouth was soon drowned out by a sudden onslaught of red-hot pain as my body hit the ground with a muted _thump_ and the entire world was plunged into darkness.

… **I know. I'm evil. **


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Aren't I such an evil, horrible person, leaving you all with that cliffhanger? XD Poor Carlisle. As if that man doesn't suffer enough with having me as his number one fangirl.**

_**Esme Platt**_

The blood. All I could keep my eyes on was the blood. The blood that spilled from the malignant wound on the side of Carlisle's head and seeped through his hair, the blood that stained my hands and legs as I pulled his head onto my lap. I slid off the light coat I had been wearing and pressed it over the wound, trying to stop a majority of the bleeding while I reached for my phone with trembling fingers. My voice shook and cracked as I spoke the the emergency operator on the other end, pressing harder on Carlisle's gruesome gash. Minutes dragged by like hours as I anxiously waited for help to arrive, all the while running my fingers through his blood-stained hair and murmuring soft words of comfort. With each passing moment, his body seemed to grow more still and his breathing rate gradually decreased with each breath he took. Letting my tear-filled eyes sweep the ground, I spotted an object only a few feet away on the dew-coated grass. Recognizing it as a shotgun, most likely the one that the criminal had used to harm my beloved, I reached over and grasped the tip in my hand, pulling it towards me. I turned it over a couple times, scanning over the model until my eyes set on small letters inscribed on the side: _Charles Evenson._

My father.

##

"Carlisle? Oh my god, Carlisle! Is he dead?" I looked up at the sound of Erin's voice at the door as she strode into the small hospital room and made her way to the bedside.

"He's alive... barely," I replied softly, discreetly letting go of Carlisle's hand and placing my own in my lap.

She then set her gaze on me, "What are you doing here?"

"I was with him when he got injured. I'd like to stay with him to make sure that he's all right."

"That's what the doctors are for," she retorted.

"Yes. But I'm sure that he'd like to have a friend around, too. I can't imagine that he'd want to be alone during such a crucial time like this."

"Hence why I'm here. You're hereby relieved from your duties, _Esme_." She sneered my name and then set her eyes on Carlisle's still form. I sighed lightly and rested my gaze on her face, watching as she stared down at the unconscious, gauze-covered mess that was her best friend. _There's no way I can leave him here like this,_ I thought, _she has to know. I can live with the consequences._ _I'll have to._

Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I took in a deep breath before letting go of the secret I so desperately wished to keep.

"It's my responsibility as his significant other to stay with him while he's injured."

Erin slowly dragged her gaze away from Carlisle's body to stare at me, the harshness accompanying her glare feeling like daggers pinning themselves painfully into my being. "_Excuse_ me?"

"What part didn't you understand?" I replied calmly, though, on the inside, I was raging with uncertainty and fear of what I had just revealed.

"You've been _dating_ him? For how long?"

I gulped, "A few months or so."

"And why didn't I know about this?"

"We didn't want you be angry, Erin," I answered softly. "We thought it best to wait a little while then tell you all."

"Not telling me would make me more angry! Look, Carlisle's my _best friend_. He tells me everything that he doesn't tell the other two. See, you've got him wrapped so damn tight around your finger that he doesn't even pay a care to us, his _real_ friends, anymore. How does that make you feel? Accomplished?"

"That's the reason that he didn't tell you or Clark. He does care about you. He doesn't want to drift away from his friends because he just so happens to be dating a person that they aren't too fond of... we were only waiting for the right time to tell you."

"So Ryan knows?"

"Yes."

Erin sighed exasperatedly and furiously ran a hand through her hair, "You've manipulated him, too. I would've thought that Ryan, of all people, would have told me that."

"Ryan is a good keeper of secrets. Carlisle knew that he wouldn't let it slip."

"That right there, Esme, proves that you shouldn't be with him. The fact that you're _scared_ to tell others about your relationship shows that you shouldn't be in one," she spat venomously. "If there's anyone that he should be with, it's _me._ I've known him for a hell of a lot longer than you have. You just wait; soon enough, you'll become old news and he'll dump you, then come running to the one he really belongs with: _me_."

At that, the slow but steady beeping of the heart monitor suddenly increased pace. The unconscious form on the bed stirred ever so slightly as a soft whimper escaped his lips; in an attempt to calm him, I gently placed my hand over his, "I think it's best that you leave, Erin."

"Why should I be the one that has to leave?" she nearly hissed.

"Because he's obviously stressing over this. He needs rest, not strain." I tightened my grip on Carlisle's limp hand as the beeping became quicker and more prominent once again.

"Fine, then. But this isn't the last time you'll see me here." Erin huffed angrily and turned on her heel, striding out the door and slamming it behind her. My gaze rested on the wooden door for a few seconds afterward, before I turned back to the lethargic body that lay on the bed. Gently taking his hand between both of my own, I rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb and whispered faint words of encouragement, hoping that my voice would be able to break the wall that had fallen over his senses. Eventually, his heart rate slowed to a normal pace and his breathing calmed. Still holding onto his hand, I leaned back on the plastic chair that I was seated in and let my eyes fall shut for a few short, peaceful moments. My relaxation was interrupted a few minutes later when a young nurse walked into the room, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her.

"Is everything all right in here? I heard the monitor start speeding up," she inquired.

I sat up and nodded, "Yes, everything's fine. He just got a bit stressed out, but he's fine now."

"Sure. Let me give him some more pain medication, though. I can only imagine how much it must hurt to be shot in the head." The nurse cracked a light smile and inserted a small amount of clear liquid into the IV bag that hung from a metal post next to the bed. "Just press the call button if anything else happens," she said on an ending note before walking back out of the room and softly closing the door. I listened to the faint dripping sound of the IV as my eyes wandered over to stare at the thick layer of gauze that was wrapped tightly around Carlisle's head. A broken sigh escaped my mouth as my gaze fixed itself on the young boy's tranquil face. _At least he's not in pain_, I reassured myself, absentmindedly tightening my fingers around his.

"I'm so sorry, Carlisle," I murmured, fighting against the tears that threatened at the corners of my eyes. "It should be me laying on that bed right now with a bullet in my head. Not you." _You're suffering because of me._ The gunman – my own father – had most likely intended to have hit me in the first place. It just didn't make sense for him to hurt my boyfriend, a person he didn't even know. He'd always been out to get me; it was always me that he turned to when he needed someone to take his anger out on, always me that he chose to torment. If he found out that I had been lying to him about whatever subject it may be, it would be _me_ that he'd be out to kill, not any other person involved in the situation.

That was just the thing.

He had been aiming the weapon at me; he had wanted to murder me with the bullet.

And Carlisle knew that. He was such an intelligent, gentle person, and those instincts took over, I'm sure, as soon as he caught sight of the morbid criminal with his peripheral vision. The protective instincts he possessed immediately pushed away any concern he had for his own welfare to keep another within safety... _me_.

He deserved so much better than life had given him. All the talents, the beneficial traits that he bore, were most definitely not useless, but just waiting to be given a chance to break through. He held himself so low on the ladder; he always put others first. He'd make sure that others, whether or not he knew or cared for them, were safe before he was. He was so... selfless.

That was the type of person who deserved love.

He had it, of course; he most definitely had love. He had close friends who loved and cared for him deeply; his mother obviously wasn't the most caring person in the world, but I'm sure that wherever his father was at this point, that he still loved his son with every ounce of his being.

Just like I was beginning to.

It elated me, knowing that I had been blessed with the entrance of this near perfect boy – no, nearly a man – into my life. After the things I had endured in the past couple of years, I had thoroughly convinced myself I would never know love again; not after the passing of my mother. Carlisle, this broken yet gorgeous person that lay on the bed before me, had turned that car around.

I gave his fingers another gentle squeeze as I laid my head lightly on his shoulder, before closing my eyes and sighing:

"I'm falling in love with you, Carlisle."


	14. Chapter Fourteen

…**.hi. XD _-pretends not to know that I haven't updated in forever- _Sorry, guys. My characters seem to have gone on strike after everything I've put them through. Writer's block and myself are not very good friends. Neither are myself and schoolwork. =P**

_**Esme Platt**_

The two months since the shooting had flown by in the blink of an eye, but it wasn't until a mere few days ago that Carlisle had finally begun to speak.

"Es...me?" His soft voice had slurred and cracked as it struggled to form only the simplest of words. According to the doctors, his state was improving at a much more rapid rate than what was normal; an obvious good sign. It appeared that none of his memory was ruptured, as he recognized just about everyone who visited him. He still had a ways to go in order to regain his full physicals abilities, though I was nearly positive that he'd recover easily from any injury that he may have possessed. Watching him struggle to move the left side of his body, though, wedged a sliver of doubt into my nearly over-confident thoughts. It seemed to take great strain on his part to merely lift his left arm or even move his fingers, which led me to the unfortunate idea that he may have lost use of that particular limb.

I'd also been notified that my father had been accused of the crime he had so ferociously committed. The trial date was not yet set, but I was hopeful nonetheless that he would be righteously convicted and sentenced to jail or parole. At the same time, if he was miraculously thrown into prison, Alice and myself would be put into some sort of foster care, which most definitely not something that I was willing to endure.

A light knock came to the door after a few seconds of thoughtless silence. I stood up to greet whoever was on the opposite side, when the heavy wooden door flew open on its own, afterward revealing my younger sister in the entrance.

"Speak of the devil," I murmured to myself, before composing my image and clearing my throat, "Hey. I thought you were supposed to be with your friend today?"

Alice bounded over to Carlisle's other bedside, setting a rectangular container on the small end table. "She found out that she had a dentist appointment, so I went back home and decided to make some cookies for your boyfriend." _Oh, hell._

"That's nice of you, Alice, but the doctors don't want him to eat anything other than what they've been giving him, okay?" It was a great thing that she enjoyed baking, but considering that she's only ten, her skills were obviously not the most refined. Carlisle had recently been shot in the head; if there was one thing hat was worse for him than being injured again, it was my younger sister's cooking.

"He can't even have a _little _bit?" she pressed, blinking at me with those large hazel eyes of hers. I shook my head in denial, giving her a sympathetic smile.

"Fine, then. More for me." Her face broke into a mischievous grin as she leaned over to pick up the container once more. "I guess I'll head home. See you later." She gave me a short embrace and shot a warm smile at Carlisle, who had opened his eyes just in time to watch Alice bound out of the room, half-eaten cookie in hand. I stood up from my chair to gently shut the door before returning to my rightful place at Carlisle's side. His eyes had once again slid shut after being open for only a few mere moments, which was a rather normal occurrence of the past couple of months, but there was an unusual expression resting on his smooth face that was not one of peace.

His features were contorted into a grimace of pain and uncertainty; uncertainty of what, I was not sure. I lightly shook his limp shoulder in a petty attempt to wake him, to inquire of what could possibly be causing him this distress. Eventually, when my desperate attempts to wake him showed no result, I reached over to the call button on the side of the bed. The seconds dragged by like hours before a young nurse cam bustling through the door, bringing herself to a halt beside me.

"What's the matter?" she inquired, sounding much more professional than her age displayed.

"I don't actually know," I replied in a rush of words. "He just started looking pained all of a sudden." The expression on the nurse's face changed to one of confusion after she contemplated my words.

"That's odd," she said softly, "the painkillers shouldn't have worn off yet. Has anyone visited lately? Anyone that could maybe make him stressed?"

I shook my head, "Just my little sister. She was only here for a few minutes, though." _Maybe it's me?_ No, it couldn't be me. I hadn't bothered him all that much during my visits; or had I? Interrupting my thoughts, the nurse spoke again.

"I don't think this is the reason, but could you step out for a few moments? It might be the constant company that's upsetting him." I said nothing and proceeded to follow through with her orders as the same train of thought ran through my head once more: maybe it _was_ me. Maybe I was spending too much time around him; maybe he has finally realised that it was in fact my fault that he had been so brutally injured.

Instead of simply standing outside the door and waiting for a response from the nurse, I continued walking down the corridor and out into the rather cool spring air. IT was only for the best that I remove myself from the room for the time being; after all, the majority of the past two months or so had been spent in the almost claustrophobic room at his bedside. While I was away, Alice had been staying with the family of a friend of hers. I continued to stay at home, though I rarely used it for anything other than a sleeping place. I had even skipped school a few times immediately after the incident just to accompany Carlisle in the hospital, as his mother rarely came to visit. She showed at least once every two weeks, maybe twice is he was lucky. With the mental state that he was in, I wouldn't put it past the situation if Carlisle had begun to think that I was his mother-figure.

That was the bottom line. I was spending too much time cooped up inside that small room.

I couldn't leave him, though. I couldn't leave him like that. Knowing that it was my fault that he was hurt, I couldn't leave him. I am many things, some of them most definitely horrible, but one thing that I am not is selfish. I wasn't the type of person that took advantage of others; I wasn't the type of person that would use another to protect themselves. It may not have been the best thing for me to spend so much of my time with Carlisle, my _boyfriend_ nonetheless, maybe it was even unhealthy, but I wouldn't just leave him on the curb, so to speak. I refused to leave him to suffer.

I didn't realise how far I had walked until I bumped face-first into someone heading in the opposite direction.

"What the hell, chick? Watch where you're walking, for god's sake – oh... hi, Esme." I looked up at the head of thick red hair that sat about five inches above my own, my cheeks flushing a bright pink.

"Sorry, Clark. I was looking at the ground."

"Don't worry about it, I was just being a jerk... how's Carlizzle, by the way? Is his mind still all whacked?"

I allowed myself to crack a smile at his comment, "He's doing a little better. Still hasn't spoke much yet, though."

Clark frowned for a moment and shrugged, "I guess you can't really blame him. He'll get better eventually. But you know what's crazy? The whole thing about him getting shot and all was actually on the news about a week ago. I didn't think it would make it that far."

I paused for a second, unaware of that particular fact. "Did they say who shot him?"

"Yeah. Some guy with the last name of Evenson, or something weird like that."

"... oh. Well, it's good that they caught him."

Clark grinned, "Yup. Now they can throw that bastard in jail. Anyway, I'm on my way to a track meet, so I'll catch you later." He lightly punched my shoulder with his fist before continuing on his way.

So they really _did_ catch him. I knew that there were eye-witnesses of the scene that had most likely told the authorities about the situation, but I had never been notified that m father had been officially caught. In an instant, I spun around my on heel and hurried back in the direction of the hospital. He wouldn't be able to exactly understand me, but I felt the sudden urge to tell Carlisle about this wonderful news. I burst through the glass doors and into the reception area, hustling to find the quickest way back to the fourth-floor room. The stairwell was behind the door to my right, and luckily there was no one using it like they were the over-packed elevators. I sprinted up the stairs and into the room, only to find someone already in the room with the blonde boy on the bed. The middle-aged man turned around to face me just as I entered the door.

"Who are you?" he inquired.

"Esme Platt, a, um... friend of Carlisle's. And you are?" I made my way to the window, where I leaned my back against it, awaiting the man's response.

"James Cullen. Carlisle's father."


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**So, I'm trying to get this chapter done as fast as possible for you guys... I thank you all from the bottom of the deep, dark abyss that is my heart for bearing with me and my sluggish updates for all this time. xD**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

_Shuff, shuff. _The soft sound of footsteps made its way to my ears just as the door clicked into place. A sigh seemed to echo through the room; I sensed another being, but decided against opening my eyes for the sake of trying to make up for the many hours of lost sleep. Minutes of silence passed without any form of conversation, before the door opened again and another pair of quiet footsteps crossed the floor. The sound stopped at the side of my bed, a few moments of silence once again occupying the room.

"Who are you?" asked a male voice, breaking the heavy quiet that sat upon the room.

"Esme Platt. A, um... friend of Carlisle's." Esme, of course. She was always here, confining herself to this small room just to keep me company, the only one who did so for that matter... but who was this man who had, strangely enough, decided to join her? "And you are?"

A short pause wedged itself between her question and the man's answer, doing nothing but heightening my curiosity to an extremely distressing level. At last, the long-awaited answer voiced itself, "James Cullen. Carlisle's father."

Again, silence.

No, I had to dreaming. There had been a gaping hole shot through my brain, there had to be things such as drastic dreams and a highly-altered imagination that went along with that degree of injury. Six years... six years had passed since he'd shown his face. What made him suddenly decide to come to my aid now? A coincidence that my long-lost father just so happened to be walking throughout town when he heard that his son had been shot?

That would be one hell of a coincidence.

My thoughts halted in place as Esme began to speak again, "What brings you here?"

"I heard that my son had been shot; of course I'm going to come see him." My father paused for only the slightest of moments, as I imagined that Esme had given him a questioning look just about then. "I heard about this on the radio. Some of the Californian news drips into the Oregon stations when you're right on the border."

"Oh, so you live in Oregon? I've heard that it's nice up there." I fought the urge to let a small smile show itself in response to Esme's statement. The tone of her voice hinted at a question like, 'You live in the state right above us. Where the hell have you been all these years?' I itched to ask him that very question, to inquire of his whereabouts and reasons for the all of the too-long period of time he had chosen to spend away from his only son.

"It is," James replied, carrying on Esme's pathetic attempt at small talk for a slight moment before changing the subject. "How has been lately?"

"Carlisle? He's been doing well... the doctors say that he's recovering much more quickly than normal, so that's a good sign."

"Good... that's good." His voice quietly trailed off as I felt two pairs of eyes settle on my form. I struggled to keep my eyes closed so I was able to eavesdrop, hoping that the two would carry the conversation on in a more interesting direction.

Esme suddenly cleared her throat and I could picture her shifting awkwardly on her feet, "So do you plan on staying here long?" she asked in the most polite manner possible.

"Well... no. I'm only able to take a little bit of time off of work, and I just got a new job offer in New York, so I'll have to start getting ready to move there fairly soon." New York? He was moving to _New York_? Hearing those words, it felt as if my heart had dropped a mile out of my chest into the deepest pits of Hell; my father, one of the only people that had shown me any sort of love during the nearly sixteen years of my life, had come back to see me after the extensive period of six years, only to leave a few days later to move across the entire country?

It seemed as if things just couldn't get any worse.

"... but I don't plan on going alone." I tuned back into the conversation, hearing James finish a sentence whose beginning I had not heard. "I'd like to take Carlisle with me."

I was wrong. Things _could_ get worse.

The pressure of Esme's hand on my arm made itself known as her distressed voice questioned my father's notions, "You want to... take him with you?"

"Yes, that's what I said. Is there a problem?"

"I can't imagine that he'd want to leave his friends so suddenly. That, and he's only got two years of high school left... what would be the point of moving him to a new school when he's nearly done with it?" she reasoned, instantly jumping to my defense.

"That's the idea. He'll be going off to college in two years after high school, I want to at least have him with me for a little while before he leaves. Besides, school systems in New York are so much better than the ones here -" James's response was cut off by a quick snap by Esme, her voice harsh and demanding:

"It's his choice, not yours."

"He's still a minor. The court has the right to make that decision," James replied, his voice acquiring the same tone as Esme's had before.

"He's old enough to think for himself. He shouldn't be forced to do something he doesn't want to do."

"And how do you know that he doesn't want to go, Emily?"

"It's Esme," she muttered, before recomposing herself and answering, "I don't, but he has a life here. He's not going to suddenly drop that to move across the entire nation."

"Carlisle's my son. I know him. I'm sure he'll be just fine."

"You _know_ him, do you? You've been gone for how many years, and you say that you _know_ him? _I_ probably know him better than you do!" _Oh, Esme... no._ This was going much too far. Beginning to grow restless with their conversation, I finally decided to open my eyes, for sake that it would possibly distract them from the heated argument and let me voice my own opinion. No, I wasn't exactly capable of speaking just yet, but it was at least worth a shot to try.

"Dad?" My weary eyes settled in on the man before me, scanning his face and ever-so-changed appearance. Each of the features I had acquired from him had diminished drastically; his blonde hair had faded to grey, the ice-blue eyes that were once filled with constant rapture had dulled to an aged tone of greyish-blue that held some sort of what looked like joyful sorrow in reaction to my simple recognition of his presence.

"Yes, Carlisle?" he said softly, seating himself on the edge of my bed.

I sucked in a deep breath, hoping that it would help my voice form the words I wished to say, "I... can't...go...with you."

He paused for a moment, one eyebrow raised, "And why is that?"

"I can't... leave..."

"Can't leave what?"

"Her." My gaze then removed itself from my father's face to set on Esme's, who had her head turned towards the floor with her arms crossed over her chest. After a few seconds, she chose to look up at me, a single tear threatening to escape the corner of her eyes.

"Why not? Is she your girlfriend or something?"

"... yes. I am," Esme cut in quietly. "And I know that makes me biased, but he still shouldn't go. He has other friends here, too."

James sighed exasperatedly and ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated, "Really, Carlisle? You don't want to come because of a _girl_? That's not like you."

"You haven't...been around... since I was... nine, Dad. You... don't know a... thing... about me." The pauses between my words seemed to make my statement much less straightforward as I had intended it to be. "I'm not... going."

He stifled yet another sigh before standing up, "I appreciate your opinion, son, but it's still up to your mother and myself whether or not you go. I'll be talking to her about this later. For now, I'll leave you and your _girlfriend_," that particular word adopted a slightly disgusted tone, "alone. Take care." He then proceeded to walk out of the room, not bothering to shut the door behind him. I listened to his heavy footsteps disappear down the hallway, before leaning my head back into the flattened pillow and letting out a distressed sigh.

"I thought you would have been happier to have seen your father after all those years," Esme said softly, perching herself on the chair that sat at the bedside. "You didn't seem very surprised."

I lightly shrugged my shoulders, my eyes falling halfway shut, "I would have been... happier... if he hadn't... asked me to go...with him."  
"It's not because of me, is it?" Esme questioned. "I don't want to be the reason that you're holding back from going, Carlisle. You know that I'll miss you if you go, but I don't want to stop you from having a father in your life."

"No, I just... I... I don't want to... think about it... right now. We'll discuss it... later," I stammered, my eyelids winning the battle between myself and fatigue and sliding all the way shut. "Just stay... here." I felt her hand lay itself on top of mine as I drifted off to sleep, hoping that somehow it would do the opposite and wake me from this awful nightmare known as life.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Hello, all…so… school's over now. So hopefully I can devote some more time to my fanfic. I would like to thank you guys for all of the reviews and feedback you've given me over the time I've been working on this fic; they really mean the world to me, and they're really what keeps me going on my pieces. (: So… here's the long-awaited chapter sixteen. I hope you enjoy it.**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

_"Hey, Carlisle? Come here for a moment." I closed the book that was lying open on my desk, bounding down the stairs to answer my mother's call. _

_ "Yeah, mom?"_

_ "I just wanted to let you know that we're moving out of New York. I got a job offer in California, so we'll be moving there once school lets out." I merely nodded, struck speechless by the sudden news. One day, we're living a perfectly normal life, then the next we're moving across the entire nation? I have a life here. Friends, family, school. I couldn't leave that behind. What if I never came back?_

Huh. Who would have thought that I'd get the chance to return to my so-called "life" in the Big Apple.

To be honest, I had thought that I would miss New York when we left (yeah, right, miss the corrupted state government and being able to experience all four seasons within one week… of course, I was only ten) but strangely enough, I ended up growing more accustomed to California than I ever did back in my home state.

Now that I had the chance to return to my former life, I was baffled. It almost gave me an odd twinge of xenophobia, just thinking about how drastically my life would be altered by returning to my original home.

The largest, most potent conflict I had to confront was Esme.

Yes, I was willing to begin living with my father once more, but only if she was able… no, she wouldn't be able to accompany me. Her father, in prison or not, would never stand for it. Her younger sister also had to be dragged into the formula, which posed an even more complicated version of my plan.

As if she were cued, Esme entered the slightly ajar door, striding across the short distance to my bedside. She took her usual place on the chair to the left, balling up her hands in her lap.

"Hey," I greeted her, forcing a welcoming smile to appear on my lips.

"What have you been thinking about lately?" she questioned plainly, her gazed fixed firmly on the tiled floor below.

Pausing for only a brief moment, I thought up the most basic response, "Things."

"These things being?"

"You're quite straightforward today, aren't you?" I joked lightly, chuckling awkwardly.

"Not necessarily. I'm only wondering if you… thought about a certain something." She finally lifted her gaze from the floor to stare at me pleadingly.

A short sigh escaped my lungs. She didn't even need to specify what it was that she wanted to know. "I haven't made a decision yet, Esme. My mom hasn't mentioned anything, either. Hell, she hasn't even come down here since my dad did."

"Oh." She nodded. "I understand." Silence fell upon the two of us, the only noise occupying the room being the dull hum of the air conditioning.

"But I had an idea," I began, the sound of my voice falling upon the room as if a fifteen-pound bowling ball had been thrown onto the floor. "I was thinking that… if you wanted to… that you could maybe… come with me?"

She simply blinked, procrastinating on responding to my offer. "You want me to _what_?"

I gulped down the apprehensive knot that had formed in my throat, nervously kneading my hands together, "I asked if you wanted to come to New York with me."

"Carlisle, I…" her sentence trailed off, leaving me in limbo of confusion for a brief second, "I'd love to go with you, but… I can't just leave. I mean, I can't just leave Alice here. You have your friends here, too; you're going to leave them behind?" She paused, inhaling the potent scent of the hospital, "I wish I could go with you, but I can't."

My gaze dropped to fix itself on the starched sheets of the bed, studying each of the small stitches that had somehow managed to come loose. "I get it."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, absentmindedly wrapping her fingers around mine, "I just… I can't leave Alice here and… well, you're not sure if you're even going to go yet, right?"

I shrugged lightly, my eyes still fixed on the bed sheets, "I don't know. It's up to my parents, really. They have the ultimate authority."

"Things will work out," she comforted softly, "they always seem to, one way or another." She sent a slight smile in my direction, slowly inching closer to my face within the few seconds that followed. Our lips finally touched for the first time in a number of weeks, and fortunately went uninterrupted by any sort of outside distraction for the couple of seconds that passed. The two of us were completely absorbed in the contact until the click of the door made it way to our ears. We sprang asunder at the sound, the few moments of bliss that were once in our possession immediately dissipated as the man strode into the room.

"H-hey, Dad," I greeted, my voice adopting a slightly nervous tone. "What's up?"

He didn't bother to return my greeting or even acknowledge Esme's presence before he continued on to his own matters, "I need to talk with you alone, Carlisle. If your…_girlfriend_ wouldn't mind stepping out for a few moments?" _She has a name,_ I thought, internally rolling my eyes at his means of addressing Esme. I looked in her direction, asking with my eyes if she would mind granting me my unwanted privacy. She merely nodded, responding with, "I'll be out in the hallway."

As soon as the door clicked shut, my father perched himself on the wooden armrest of a chair that sat next to the bed. He stifled a sigh, uncomfortably scratching the short stubble of what I assumed he called a beard. "I know that you're not going to be happy with me when I tell you this," he began tentatively, "but I spoke to your mother… and she thinks it best that you do come along with me to New York for a little while."

I set my eyes on his face, my jaw hardening. "How long is this 'little while'?" I demanded as politely as possible, refusing to avert my gaze until he gave me the response I was waiting for.

"Just until you finish high school." He must have felt the sensation of my gaze smoldering into the side of his head, because he then continued, "I know that seems like a long time, son, but… I regret leaving you like I did. I never really got to know you, and I'd like to. A good start would be having you move in with me."

"Moving in with you entails traveling across the entire nation, Dad. Maybe it'd be a bit different if you lived a few streets down instead of thousands of miles east."

He sighed once more, finally mustering up the courage to turn around and fully face me, "That's true. But try, please just try, to think of the pros in this. New York would be a new environment – in a strange déjà vu sort of way – for you. It would be like… starting over."

My jaw kept itself clenched throughout my next sentence, "What kind of sick joke is that?"

"Pardon?"

"'Starting over'? That's what you think this is? Maybe you should have 'started over' six years ago when you went through that so-called _mid-life crisis_, or whatever the hell it was. Maybe you should have tried to 'start over' a couple years ago, instead of disappearing off the face of the Earth and suddenly making a comeback as soon as I get shot in the head. That's what it takes for you? It takes your kid getting drastically injured and moving across the entire damn country for you to want to 'start over'?" At the end of my speech, I let out the excess sigh that had built up, pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger.

"Carlisle," James murmured carefully, waiting a few seconds for me to calm myself down, "that's not what this is about. At all."

"Oh, it's not? Funny how you suddenly reappeared after someone shot me, then, Dad. Funny how you never stopped to think, 'hey, maybe I should go visit my son' before this happened."

He gave me what looked like a reassuring glance, placing his hand lightly on my shoulder, "I did. I did think of that before this happened. Don't believe for a second that I wasn't thinking about you, son."

"Then why didn't you act on it?" I removed his hand from my shoulder, awaiting the answer that never came. Instead, he decided to change the subject from his own faults to mine.

"Look, this isn't about me, I know it isn't. You don't want to leave your girlfriend; that's why you're being so difficult. Am I right?"

"First of all, she has a name. Her name is _Esme_¸ and I suggest that you remember that for my sake. Second of all… fine, yes, she is a part of it. But there's also the fact that I don't want to move across the entire country. That's just pointless."

Frustratedly, James stood up from his place on the chair, running his fingers through his grey hair. "I'm not going to argue with you over this, Carlisle. Point is, you're coming with me as soon as you get discharged from this hospital." He tentatively patted my tense shoulder before striding out of the room, exchanging places with Esme who took a seat on the edge of my bed.

She leaned back next to me, and I took the chance to gently lay my head n her shoulder, "Did you hear any of that, by chance?"

"Yeah," she whispered, "the last part."

I lifted my gaze to her, attempting to blink away the sorrow that my eyes held, "I guess I'm going with him. There's no changing his mind on this one."

"Do you know when you're going?" she asked, leaning her head to rest on top of mine.

"He said as soon as I'm discharged."

This statement did not receive an answer; she simply slid off the bed and placed a gentle, lasting kiss on my cheek. "I... It's getting late. I should get home to Alice, so… I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure," I replied faintly, watching her exit the room. The door clicked shut, leaving me with only the sound of my own breathing.

**# #**

Esme entered the door of her home, letting out a short huff of breath as she locked it behind her. Slipping off her sweatshirt, she laid it on the back of a kitchen chair on her way into the living area. She plopped herself onto the soft cushions of the couch, letting her eyes fall shut as if to fully absorb the news she had just been granted with.

_He's leaving._

If only she had accepted the offer to go with him. If only she were able to. Just when she thought that things were starting to look up, just when she thought that she'd be able to pull out of the metaphorical abyss she had been living in, the one thing – the one person - she had relied on was, once again, being torn from her in a fit of unjust cause.

What would become of her? First her mother, second, her beloved Carlisle – what was next? Alice?

The taste of salt landed on her lips, each small tear sliding down her cheek in time with the tick of the clock.

No. No, this wasn't happening. It couldn't be. There had to be some sort of way to stop this – there had to be _something_ to change his father's mind. Unlike her late mother, there was still a small, nearly microscopic twinge of hope that this plan could be halted. Esme's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a petite form hopping onto the couch next to her.

"Ez, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Alice inquired, her large eyes staring questionably at her older sister.

"Um… nothing you need to worry about." Esme paused for a moment, noticing the time, "You should be getting to bed. It's late, Alice." She discreetly wiped away the excess tears that were left on her cheek, standing up from the couch and taking her sister's arm into her hand. "Come on, let's go."

Once she had finished readying Alice for bed, Esme entered her own bedroom, not bothering to turn on the lights or change out of her clothes before lying down on the bed. She left the window open a light crack, hoping that the sounds of the nocturnal nature outdoors would help to clear her thoughts of the dread that they held for the future.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**I would like to thank you all for the reviews I received for the last chapter. (: In return, I'm giving you all a really quick update… this is a record, its only been like three days xD I hope you all enjoy reading this one, cause I loved writing it. (:**

_**Esme Platt**_

The soft light of an early summer morning leaked through the curtains, casting warm rays of sun across my just-awoken face. After blinking away the overwhelmingly bright light from my eyes, I sat up and tossed the thin sheet from my legs. To my surprise, it was nearly nine o'clock in the morning, a rather late time for me to wake up on a normal weekday. Although, school had ended a month ago, what was the difference? Quickly dressing myself, I hurried downstairs only to find my younger sister already stuffing her innocent face with store-bought chocolate cookies.

"Alice," I scolded gently, "what did I tell you about eating sweets for breakfast?"

"You never told me anything," she replied around a mouthful of cookie. "And Dad never said that I couldn't, either."

I halted for a moment at the mention of our father, attempting to conjure up a good enough comeback to her defense. "Well, Dad isn't here right now, so I'm in charge. You do what I tell you, and I'm telling you that you can't eat those cookies for breakfast." I successfully hid my triumphant smirk, taking the box of sugar-filled sweets from her grasp to hide it in an unreachable place on top of the refrigerator.

Alice pouted for a second in an attempt to shake my decision, but gave up a millisecond later and turned to bound into the living room where I could hear the sound of cartoons emanating from the television. Just as I relaxed back into one of the creaky kitchen chairs, my cell phone vibrated, notifying me of a new text message. The screen read Carlisle's name, as per usual, so I flipped open the phone to read what he had needed to notify me of. The message read:

_'Hey, would u mind meeting me the park around 2PM? I have somewhere I want 2 take u.'_

I smiled at his invitation; he'd just been released from the hospital last week, surely he shouldn't be taking me into town with his condition? I slowly typed back a response (I had never been the fastest at text messaging and things of the sort) and headed upstairs to ready myself into a more presentable state, wondering about the day that Carlisle had in store for our enjoyment.

# #

It was around 1:15 when I had finally finished readying myself – and Alice, I had arranged for her to stay with a friend – for the rest of the day.

"Okay, wait here for Cindy to pick you up. I need to start walking down to the park," I informed, slipping on my sneakers and getting my last-minute things ready.

Alice completely disregarded my statement, and instead responded with, "Have fun with your _boyfriend_." I simply rolled my eyes at her teasing, giving a slight wave goodbye as I exited the house.

I made it to the entrance of the town park just minute before the time struck two. My gaze searched for Carlisle amongst the many people that occupied the area, finally finding him sitting on an empty bench near the gazebo.

"Esme!" The cocky grin I had grown to love slid onto his face as he stood with slight difficulty. He walked towards me with a small limp on his left side; a result of the damaged nerves in his brain. Luckily he still had use of the left side of his body rather than not, but it never failed to make my heart sink at the sight of his struggles.

"Carlisle." His grin, I must say, was nearly always contagious. My lips curved into a smile when he leaned in to place a light kiss on my cheek. _Always the gentleman_. "You were only discharged last week; shouldn't you still be resting at home?"

He let out a short sigh at my accusation, rolling his eyes, "Please, I've been in that hospital for so long that I've lost track. I think I've done enough 'resting'."

"Fine, fine," I giggled, "I just don't want you to overdo yourself. I mean, getting shot in the head is a pretty malignant injury."

Carlisle smirked, waving it off, "Yeah, whatever. The doctor said that it didn't damage anything _majorly_ important or traumatizing. Nothing that would stop me from walking or talking."

"Oh, yes, God forbid you stop talking," I joked sarcastically, earning a light chuckle from each of us.

"In all seriousness, though," he began after the laughter had faded, "I do need to talk to you about something before we start our day." He wrapped his hand around mine and limped back towards the empty bench, gesturing for me to take a set next to him.

"Shoot," I said, intending for him to begin, before adding, "no pun intended."

He cracked a half-smile, before running his free fingers through his tousled blonde hair, which caused an air of uncertainty to inch into the back of my mind at his distressed habit. "Well… it's about the whole thing with my dad. He… he wants to leave for New York at the end of the month."

If it were possible, my jaw would have dropped a mile into the ground. "Car… Carlisle, that's only two weeks away!"

"I know," he murmured, not bothering to avert his gaze from its place on the ground below. "And I have to go with him. My parents have the verdict; I have no authority over their decision."

"Yes you do!" I retorted, maybe a bit too quickly for my own liking, "you're their son, and most importantly, you're a human being. You have thoughts and emotions too, and they should respect that."

"They should, but the point is that they don't." He paused his sentence to let go of my hand to instead loop his arm around my torso.

I gently leaned into him, resting my head comfortably on his insignificantly weakened shoulder. "I'm going to miss you," I whispered, fighting back the tears that I so desperately wished to hide.

"I'll miss you, too," he murmured in response, "but, hey. It won't be for forever. Only two years; maybe less if I do something that will make him want to send me back," he chuckled. A small laugh escaped my mouth at the thought of Carlisle getting himself into some sort of mishap that would get him sent back home. He was too much of a goody-two-shoes to do such a thing; what would he do, try to be a rebel by refusing to clean his constantly spotless room?

"I'd like to see _that_ one happen," I laughed in response. "You trying to be a rebel to get shipped back home."

"I have my ways, you know," he replied with a snicker, "you'd be surprised at what kind of tricks I have up my sleeve."

Jokingly rolling my eyes at his comment, I changed the subject, "So you said that you had somewhere you wanted to take me… are we just going to sit here all day?"

"Oh, yes, yes. I do have somewhere that I want to take you." He stood up from his seat on the bench, dragging me with him. "You're going to love it, I'm sure. But I'm warning you that it involves a bus ride."

**# #**

"You didn't tell me that the bus ride was going to be _that_ long," I half-complained with a smile.

Carlisle wore the same smile on his face as he led me towards wherever our destination happened to be, "I never said that it would be a short one, either."

"Where are we going, anyway?" I inquired, my eyes wheeling around the environment to absorb our surroundings. We were somewhere near the coast, I knew that for sure. The tides rolled upon the ocean, like the softest of feathers upon the lush grass of the hills that sat far above the shoreline.

"I won't tell you until we get there." Carlisle grinned to himself, satisfied with his expertise at keeping secrets.

Dusk was just falling upon the sky when we finally reached our destination, which happened to be the top of one of the large hills surrounding the area. Carlisle took my hand and lowered us both to the grass, comfortably positioning himself so he was able to watch the darkened sky.

"Okay, we're at the top of a hill. Is something supposed to happen up here?" I pressed once more, leaning into a position similar to Carlisle's.

"You'll see. It's supposed to start in a few minutes, just be patient."

"You know that I have issues with patience," I mumbled around a smirk, my eyes searching the sky for what was seemingly supposed to appear. Several minutes passed by, and just as I was about to open my mouth to question Carlisle of the event once more, the blackened sky lit up with several faint specks of orange that rose from the ground to the peak of height.

"What are those?" I breathed, watching as more and more of the specks rose into the air.

"Lanterns," Carlisle answered, his eyes set on the sight with as much awe as mine were. "They do this is Taiwan, and I guess they adopted the same sort of thing here in California. It's some sort of annual lantern festival they hold every year in the middle of summer. My dad took me here once when we were on a summer vacation. I was about seven at the time, and I just never forgot how… breathtaking it is."

"They're beautiful," I commented in awe. "You were right. I love it." Once again, my head fell to rest on his shoulder. The two of us sat in silence, occupied by the thousands of orange lanterns that floated into the sky and rose above us. I could never begin to explain the breathtaking beauty that rose into the sky before me; it was as if each one symbolized a care, a memory, or even a life just rising into the sky, leaving everything else behind on the ground that lay miles beneath.

Though my mind was nearly completely overtaken by the gorgeous sight of the light-filled sky, a small sliver of doubt wedged itself into my thoughts. "Carlisle?" I asked softly, my eyes still fixed on the lanterns, "What if you… don't come back?"

"What makes you say that?" he replied, his gaze fixed on the sky as well.

"What if you decide that you like New York… or someone there… better? What if, like these lanterns, you leave and just don't return?" My voice cracked slightly on the word 'return', my wide eyes suddenly closing into a squint.

Carlisle shifted onto his side, tearing his gaze from the sky to fix it on my face instead, "Esme," he began quietly, "I'll come back. You believe that. I took a bullet for you; do you honestly think that I would let someone else… replace that? Replace what we've been through, what we have?"

I closed my eyes for a second, before opening them once more to look up into his, "No, but… people change, Carlisle. Anything is possible, you know that."

"Whoever says anything is possible has obviously never tried slamming a revolving door." He grinned at his own joke for a second, recomposing himself a moment later. "Don't think for a second that I won't come back, Esme. I hate that I have to leave here – leave you – in the first place. We both know that if I had a choice, I'd stay."

"Yes, but –" My voice was silenced by Carlisle's finger pressing to my lips, keeping me from contradicting his statement.

"No buts," he whispered, "I. _Will. _Come. Back." Before I even had a chance to respond, he leaned his face closer to mine and closed the distance between our lips with a gentle, tentative kiss. The contact was never broken for what felt like ages, and for the first time, things just seemed to fall into place. For the first time, everything just seemed completely _right_. No one was taking a bullet to the head, we weren't inside a claustrophobic hospital room, we didn't have the worry of another being ruining our moment; we were just _there_. We were just Carlisle and Esme, caught up in their own moment of what was surely meant to be.

After what seems like hours, Carlisle was the one to grudgingly break the contact and open distance between our lips once more. He kept his arm looped tightly around my waist, a soft smile resting on his mouth.

"And you know why I'll definitely come back?" he asked, his whisper being carried away in the light breeze.

"Why?" I replied, my eyes poring into his, searching for an answer.

"Because I love you."

… **I have no idea if they have lantern fests in California, I just thought it was romantic. xP So what do you all think? I'd love to hear your thoughts! (:**


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Soooo… here's chapter eighteen for you all. But firstly, I'd like to thank a few people for this… one, my **_**bestest frand**_** Thorfaxic. She helped me tons with this chapter, and I don't believe that it would have turned out the way it did if it weren't for her :P Secondly, my reviewers, as per usual. You guys are awesome and are one of the main driving forces behind the continuation of this fanfic. THANKEE! And lastly, I'm thanking Black Veil Brides. Cause their amazing music totally helped motivate this chapter for some reason. I don't know why. They're just awesome like that. xD**

**So… enjoy! And as always, please leave a review, cause it always put a smile on my face when I get feedback ;D**

_**Esme Platt**_

_Four Years Later…_

June 29th. The infamous date that I had developed a grudge against had, once again, paid its annual visit as the bitter 'anniversary' of his departure.

This date had haunted me four times. Each year that passed had painstakingly drilled the everlasting, dreadful thought into my mind that he had forgotten. Forgotten his former life, the promises, the relationships; forgotten _me_. A day never passed without thoughts of what was before. I awoke each morning with a dubious amount of hope that it would finally be the day of his return, and bed myself each night with a sense of failed expectation that was almost tangible in the air.

There was nothing left for me to hang on to.

The devil had struck again. It seemed as though each time I was able to grasp onto something – or in this case, someone – it was almost immediately dissipated like snowflakes in an ocean.

Over the course of the past four years, what was brought to my attention is the fact that life simply _goes on_.

He left. That was the bottom line. He left after faithfully promising that he would return. '_People change, Carlisle. Anything is possible, you know that.'_ Not only did he leave, he changed. He must have decided that something or someone in his new environment was simply better. He changed, just like the rest of us.

In all honesty, I couldn't disagree more.

Carlisle Cullen does not change in any such way.

I could always sense it about him; I could see it in his eyes. That man, so it seemed, had been through Hell and back. Each obstacle that was thrown in his path was demolished. When life gave him lemons, so to speak, he didn't 'make lemonade'; he threw them straight back to where they came from.

Something as petty as moving out of state would not have the power to alter that.

No, Carlisle did not change. The only option that I was left with was that he had merely forgotten. He had moved on, realizing that his relationship with me was just another chapter of his life that had come to an unfortunate, cliffhanger ending.

As for myself, said chapter had never come to a close. It dragged itself onward at an agonizingly slow pace, and just when it seemed as if I could move on, my train of thought halted in the station and landed me right back where I started.

Alone.

Four years had passed by. I'd managed to graduate high school and begin college (thanks to a bank loan, unfortunately enough, I couldn't land myself a scholarship), all the while caring for my now fourteen year old sister. I had a rather busy life, to say the least, but no matter how many times I denied it, I was incomplete.

It was probably due to my own pathetic insecurities that I had attempted to move past my feelings for Carlisle and find another significant other. I'd let the idea that consuming myself with another would make those emotions disappear. Sure, that worked for the first few months. I was successful in hiding my true emotions behind a resigned mask, and my '_boyfriend'_ had done quite well in distracting me. For the longest time, I'd believed that I'd finally moved on, that I'd finally been able to get past Carlisle; that is, until the date of June 29th decided to pop up on the calendar and the past took a swing by the place that it had used to dwell before I attempted to hide it away.

"Zoning, are we?" I jumped at the sudden voice, startled. I turned around from my place on the sofa to find Jason standing in the entry of the living room, wearing a small smirk on his face. "I hadn't heard from you today, so I decided to take a trip down here. You okay?" I'd nearly forgotten in the midst of my swirling thoughts that I'd given him a house key. Jason had a tendency to pop in whenever he so pleased, which is what a boyfriend should do, but often times he would 'forget' to notify me of his appearance. Until, of course, he scared the living hell out of me by suddenly appearing in the doorway behind my back.

"Um, yeah," I replied, struggling to force my voice into sounding relatively normal in spite of the circumstances. "Just zoning. Can I help you with something?"

Jason jokingly rolled his eyes, walking across the room to approach my place on the sofa. "Why do always ask if I need help with something? I just felt like popping in for a visit. Maybe we can go somewhere later if you want to. I don't always have to have a specific _reason_ for coming by, do I?" He slid his arm around my waist, subtly pulling me away from the edge of the couch and closer to his side. His touch never failed to, even for only a second, make me slightly uncomfortable. To put it lightly, Jason was a bit… grabby. He always insisted on putting on a Public Display of Affection for anyone around to see, whether we were alone or in a crowded room. It was something that I would probably never get used to, at least with him.

I paused for a moment before I responded to his offer, "Sure. Why don't we go somewhere, it's a nice day out." I put on a sham of being interested in what was outdoors, glancing out the window at the cloudless blue sky. _Hopefully going out for a little while will clear my head._

"Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"Doesn't matter to me. I guess we could just go for a walk or something." Jason nodded and proceeded to stand up, pulling me along with him. I grabbed a light sweatshirt on our way out the door, slipping it on as I followed Jason down the street and into town. For the most part, we walked in complete silence until we reached the main intersection, each of us looking around for a place that held any remote source of interest.

"Bookstore?" I suggested, catching sight of the local Barnes & Noble located at the end of the street. Jason nodded in approval, beginning to walk towards our destination. I shoved my hands into my pockets, noticing how he reached for one as we began walking again. He seemed slightly hurt by the action, but in truth, today was not the day that I wished to deal with his constant PDA antics.

The sound of the doorbell jingling greeted our ears as we entered the rather large store. We both just stood there for a moment, contemplating where to start in the excessive racks of books that sat before us.

"Hm," Jason murmured, his eyes wheeling around in search of something of interest, "I guess I'll go look through the music, see if they have anything new."

I nodded, setting my gaze in the opposite direction, "Sure. I'll go look at the, um… mystery novels." I could sense his eyes on my back as I proceeded to make my way towards the 'Mystery &Thriller' sign that hung from the ceiling, but didn't bother to glance back in his direction. I simply continued on my way, glad to be in a relatively quiet environment where I could sit and stare blankly at a book, pretending to read without getting questioned of why exactly I had been sitting nearly motionless in a chair for at least an hour or two. Luckily, the section was completely devoid of any other customers when I reached it, grabbing a random book off the shelf without even noticing the title or reading the description. Keeping a short sigh to myself, I sat down in one of the armchairs and opened up to the first page, attempting to concentrate on the words that lined the page. From what I gathered on the first few chapters, it was some sort of mystery murder tale, as many books of that genre were. I quickly lost interest in the clichéd plot line, but kept the book open in my lap anyways, occasionally flipping the pages every few minutes or so to appear as if I were actually enthralled in reading it. Over the course of the hour or so I had been pretending to read, I had slouched down in the armchair in a particularly uncomfortable position. Just as I started to adjust myself and flip another page, I felt a light tap on my right shoulder. Making the assumption that it was Jason returning from his hunt for music, I shut the book and started to stand up from my seat.

"Esme?" I froze in my seat upon hearing the soft voice. My fingers tightened around the novel in my hand as I slowly looked up to my right at the man standing beside me.

It wasn't Jason.

My jaw must have dropped to the floor at the sight before me, because I could hear the shaky breath being taken in through my mouth as I stared in disbelief. His golden blonde hair was slicked back, no longer the shaggy mess that I remembered hanging in his eyes. He'd grown immensely since the time I'd last seen him; he had to be around six feet or over. His body had definitely filled out, shown by the toned arms that stood out from under the sleeves of his navy blue button-up shirt; he was no longer the gangly teenager that I had grown to know and love. He was a fully grown man, except for the innocent look he still held in his eyes when he examined my incredulous expression.

"Carlisle." My voice sounded false to my ears as I pulled myself into a standing position, dropping the book I had been holding onto the middle of the chair. "Carlisle Cullen."

A small smile played at the corners of his mouth as he blushed lightly and kneaded his hands behind his back, "That's me."

I blinked a few times, thinking that somehow he was only a figment of my imagination and that he would disappear if I closed my eyes for a split second. Obviously, he didn't, and I stood there dumbfounded for a few minutes of silence. I felt the sudden urge to throw my arms around him, to bury my face into his chest and inhale the scent that I knew so well, but instead I simply stood there, like a statue in a museum.

"Where the hell have you been?" I questioned softly, finally breaking the silence. He didn't seem taken aback by my question, surprisingly enough, as he let his gaze drop to the carpet for a second.

"I know it's been a longer time than we expected," he began, occasionally glancing up at my face, "But, I… I know that you're probably unbelievably pissed at me right now, but I want to apologize."

"You want to apologize?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow, "You were gone for four years, never made any contact with me at all after two of those, and you think that a simple 'I'm sorry' is going to change that?"

"No. No, I don't think that." He stifled a short sigh, clearly at a loss of words on how to explain himself. "I know that it's been a long time, Esme. Honestly, I wasn't planning on this happening. I was going to come back as soon as I turned eighteen and could travel freely, I swear to you that I was. But then I got a college scholarship and started going to med school and… time just… got away from me. Now I know that's not an excuse for anything, because I can only imagine what you thought I was doing when I suddenly didn't come back, but I… I didn't forget about you, if that's what you thought."

"Time got away from you, huh?" I responded coldly, leaning against the wall, "Two years is a pretty long time to 'get away from you', Carlisle. Out of _two years_, you didn't have five extra minutes to call me and explain a few things? You never thought to do that?"

"I did think to do that. I was going to call you. I just thought that maybe after all that time that you'd… moved on."

My lower lip was trapped between my teeth as I gulped down the tight knot in my throat, debating on what to say next. He thought that _I_ was the one that had moved on? He chose to lose contact with me because he was ashamed of himself and thought that I had forgotten, that I didn't want him anymore?

That's the Carlisle I knew. That's the one that I couldn't possibly stay angry at, no matter what his actions.

Taking one step closer to him, I proceeded to do what I had previously decided against. I let out a shaky breath as I wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my head in his defined chest as I smothered a small sob.

"I never moved on," I breathed, tightening my grip on him as he did the same, gently wrapping his arms around my much smaller form. We merely stood there in the middle of a public bookstore, embracing for what felt like hours without words.

"Am I forgiven?" Carlisle asked softly, his head resting on top of mine. I pulled back from him a few inches to look him in the eye, a faint smile appearing on my lips.

"Yes."

He returned my smile as he pulled me back into the embrace once more. "So I take it that we're, well… back together now?"

My eyes widened at his inquiry, just realizing one small detail that I had stupidly forgotten to mention. "Um… there's a tiny complication with that."

"This complication being?"

As if on cue, a person rounded the corner of a far bookshelf, stopping in his tracks as he laid eyes on me within the arms of another. He glanced from me to Carlisle and back, his gaze returned by Carlisle a few seconds later. Jason took a few steps closer, folding his arms over his chest as he stared at the two people before him.

"Esme," he began slowly, "who is this?"


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Kay, so… chapter nineteen….here it is. Being updated at 1:08 in the morning. Yes. So, I would go on about how I'm like really excited that this is officially my longest fanfic, at least chapter wise now…but… I'm tired and don't feel the need to bore you all with my crap about that so… I'll leave you guys to enjoy the chapter. I apologize if the ending is a bit, well, absolutely terrible, cause it **_**is**_** a little after one in the morning and my writing skills are a bit…**_**iffy**_**…this early, so yeah. **

**And as always, thank you all for the lovely reviews that I received on the previous chapter. They are always extremely appreciated, and will continue to be…appreciated…yeah, I'm just gonna post this and go to bed cause I'm delirious. **

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

__"Esme, who is this?" Loosening my arms from around Esme, I looked at the man who stood only about five feet away. He was short, probably only two or three inches taller than Esme at most. His eyes were a deep hazel colour, his hair a light, dusty brown that was cropped close to his skull. His muscled arms were crossed over his chest, his foot tapping impatiently on the ground.

"Um…" Esme paused for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip as her gaze dropped to the carpeted floor. "Jason, this is Carlisle. Carlisle, this is Jason." _Jason_. His name was Jason. He looked like a Jason, someone who was desperate for any sort of relationship, no matter what it entailed.

He nodded and approached where I was standing, holding out his hand to shake my own. He had a firm, vigorous shake, one that symbolized that he was trying to appear as the alpha male in the situation. "Nice to meet you, _Carlisle_." He sneered my name, a slight smirk twitching at the corner of his mouth.

"Pleasure to meet you, too." I faked a warm smile, gently nudging Esme in the arm. "Can I talk to you for a moment… alone?" She looked up at me and nodded, discreetly taking my hand and leading me behind a bookshelf while she gestured at Jason that we'd return in a few moments.

"Is he your boyfriend?" I blurted out in what was almost a hiss, being sure that Jason was out of earshot.

"Well… yes," Esme replied. "We've been together for a couple of months now. He's a nice guy, Carlisle – well, at least for the most part."

"What do you mean, 'at least for the most part'?"

"Well, he has his moments, just like everyone does." She stopped speaking to study my expression, her eyes focusing in on mine which probably held a disarray of wild emotions. "Does that upset you, Carlisle? That I'm with him?"

"Uh…" Did it bother me? Was I the one to be upset after I'd simply left her behind? It had to be expected that she'd try to move on, that she'd find another man. Of all things, I should not be the one to be upset. "I… not… necessarily. I mean, it's not your fault… I was the one who left. I can't blame you for moving on."

She exhaled out of her nose, keeping her gaze fixed on mine. "It's upsetting you. I know it is."

"No you don't."

"I know you, Carlisle. I know when something is bothering you."

Running a hand through my hair, I attempted to stifle a sigh. Who was I trying to fool? "Do you plan on staying with him?"

"I… I don't know." She twirled a strand of hair between her fingers, her gaze tearing itself away from my face to find fascination in scanning the bookshelves. "I would love to break it off with him now that you're back, but… what if you leave again? I can't risk that. I've risked too many things, Carlisle. I can't do that anymore. To put it metaphorically, being in this… _relationship_… it's almost like falling. It starts off with just taking the plunge, and then you just continue falling. At some points, it's like floating, because you think that you've found something to hold on to. But when that thing is suddenly gone, you're right back where you started. Falling. Plummeting, even. Then at the end, after the plummeting moments and the floating moments, everything is suddenly gone. And that's when you hit rock bottom, that's when things are over. I don't want that to happen. I don't want to hit the ground and reach the end. So, I… I'm just afraid. I'm not saying that I don't want you to stay, Carlisle, because I do. I'm just worried that we'll be floating for a while at first, then we'll both start falling again, and eventually the two of us – and the relationship – will just hit the bottom and crumble. 'Cause when you hit the bottom after a long fall, you break a lot of bones. Your bones are the foundation, the innermost structure of everything. I don't want our bones to break when we crash."

I said nothing for a few moments while my brain analyzed the paragraph she had just spoken. Falling, floating, crashing; what had brought all this on? Did she view me – or just the both of us in general – as a failure already, or something that was inevitably going to perish? Inhaling a shaky breath. I gently turned her head back around to face me, "We're not going to crash. Hell, we're not even falling, Esme. We never were. We've got our feet on solid ground, and Jason, well, he's just a little pebble that needs to be kicked out of the path. I know that I left, and I regret that. I know that I disappointed you – well, I'm sure that I did much more than merely 'disappoint' you. But I'm not going to again. Nothing is going to crash and burn, no bones are going to break. Okay?"

"But how can I trust that? There's no way to predict the future, Carlisle."

"No, there isn't. Although, a good start would be to go back around the corner and speak to your boyfriend there," I responded. She heeded my advice and gently brushed past me, walking back to where Jason stood by the leather armchair. Grabbing onto his wrist, she begin towing him out the back door, gesturing for me to follow. Once we had reached the far end of the parking lot, Jason tore his arm from her grasp and turned around to face her.

"Is there a reason that we're outside?" he inquired, glancing around the nearly deserted area. I kept my distance, standing rooted to the ground about five feet away.

"I thought it best to come outside instead of disturbing a quiet bookstore." Esme nervously kneaded her hands together, looking up at the – in comparison to me – scrawny man before her. "Jason, I don't really know what to say, but… I don't think… well, I've told you about Carlisle before, at least briefly. And now that he's back, I just don't think that –"

"You're dumping me." The three words he interrupted her with were not a question, but a statement. "You're dumping me for _him_. The guy who abandoned you for years. That's the guy that tore your heart out of your chest and stomped it into the ground, and you're leaving _me_ for _him_?"

Esme brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, dropping her gaze to the pavement. She took a discreet step back, leaving the three of us enveloped in silence for what felt like millennia. "I knew that you wouldn't take it well," she whispered, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground.

"Then you know me quite well, Miss Platt." Jason's voice was what seemed like a growl, his eyes glazing over with pure rage as he approached the place where Esme stood. She shrunk back from his slowly approaching form, giving him the opportunity to seem as if he were towering over her. It all happened very quickly then – he pulled back his arm, aiming for the perfect blow to Esme's flawless face. In an instant, I had him slammed against the wall of a dumpster, his back pressing into the cold, hard metal as the echo of the impact made its way into the air.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on her," I warned, my fist gripping his shirt collar as I set my intense glare upon his face.

"I'm allowed to do what I please with my girlfriend," he managed to growl in response despite the force I held upon his neck.

"You speak to her like she's your property."

Jason had no answer to this. He simply softened his hard gaze and ceased his struggles, forcing me to let him go as he no longer posed a threat. He looked at me, then at Esme once more before he angrily threw his foot against the side of the dumpster, storming off in the opposite direction while mumbling what sounded like an extensive string of profanities.

"Well… hopefully he won't be bothering you again any time soon," I concluded, making my way back to where Esme stood, still rooted to the concrete. She managed a small nod, carefully looping her arm with mine.

"I… I want to go home," she stated softly, fixing her eyes on the path before her.

"As you wish," I replied, beginning to lead her across the parking lot and back towards my car. "But may I ask you something?"

She took a moment to glance up from the ground and lay her eyes upon my face, giving me permission to continue with my question.

Allowing a small smile to creep onto my face, I asked, "Is it all right to say that we're floating now?"


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Well, well. It looks as though I've finally reached the twenties with this little piece of work here. :D So, this chapter is a bit of a teaser if I do say so myself; I figured that I'd bring back some of our old friends… Clark, Ryan, and of course Erin, since I know how much you all just **_**loved**_** her last time you heard from her. XD As always, I would absolutely love to hear from you all about what you thought of this little chapter here… a sincere thanks to everyone who reviewed the last one as well! :D So, I'll stop rambling now and let you all enjoy the text below.**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

"So, how are things in New York?" My mother's voice traveled across the table, interrupting the silence between us. The two of us had never shared a particularly deep relationship, and it always seemed to take an unbelievably large amount of initiative or interest to carry on a simple conversation. There were many things that I longed to have back in my possession when I relocated out of state, but the awkward and silent relationship with my mother was not at the top of my priority list.

"Not bad, for the most part," I began, absentmindedly swirling my cereal with the tip of the spoon, "at least for the time that I'm there. But for the time that I'm not, Harvard med school is also very nice."

"You're studying medicine? That's quite a broad field, Carlisle."

"I know, that's why I chose it. There are so many different areas to become an expert in. It's fascinating, and above all, it helps people and saves lives. I thought it was a good career path to take," I explained discreetly, removing my gaze from the half-empty cereal bowl to rest it on the woman across the table.

She just nodded, making no move to respond to my reasoning. "What about your social life? Met anyone relatively _of interest_ lately?"

I internally rolled my eyes. She was never one to question the social aspects of her son's life; perhaps she had found a new group of friends that encouraged her to pry deep into my life to search for my innermost secrets. Yes, that seemed like something she could be convinced to try. "Of course. In fact, I'm supposed to meet her in half an hour to catch up with a few friends." At that, I pushed my chair out from the table, ignoring the screech it made against the floor. I took my bowl to rinse out in the sink, but before I turned to exit the door, Amy's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Wait! You never told me who she is!"

"You remember Esme, don't you?" I replied with a small smile.

"The Esme from high school?" She looked slightly baffled, her brows furrowing as she shot me yet another question. "You're still with her?"

I shrugged lightly in response, the smile still worn on my face, "You always told me, Mom, that when you find the right one, they never leave you alone." Leaving her hanging on my statement, I bid her a short goodbye as I made my way out the front door.

**# #**

The midday sun beat down upon my face, inviting my eyes to look up and place themselves on the nearly cloudless blue sky above. The orange orb of the sun sat high in the sky, seeming so large yet so far away as it smoldered and shed rays upon the ground. _California sun, just like I remember it._ Waving in the light breeze, the lush green grass danced beneath my feet as I finally reached my destination of the local coffee shop that I had once been employed at. I pulled up a chair from another table, taking a seat underneath the canopy to shield myself from the scorching heat.

"Hey, you made it." I looked up at the male's voice, finding that it Ryan had approached the table, pulling over his own chair. "Man, it's been ages since I've seen you around here."

"I could say the same about you," I replied, allowing a grin to sneak onto my lips. Over the years, I must say, Ryan hadn't changed overly much. His dusty brown hair still managed to hang in his eyes no matter how many times he attempted to swipe it away. He'd always been quite tall when we were adolescents, but I now towered over him by at least four or five inches. Luckily for me but unfortunately for him, he was still the same gangly, awkward teenager that we all grew to know and love.

"Well, hey, you're the one who moved across the country, then got into Harvard without telling any of us," he accused jokingly, taking a small sip of the coffee he must have ordered earlier.

"How did you know what school I'm going to?" I inquired, curious as to how he obtained the information.

"Oh, I told him." I jumped, not having noticed Esme's appearance until she spoke. "We both go to the community college here, so we see each other around quite a bit."

"What about Clark and Erin? Did they stay here, too?"

"No, they didn't," Ryan interjected, "they both go to some university in Washington or something. They visit down here whenever there's a school break, though. I guess they miss the constant sun." He gestured towards the sky and the humidity that was nearly visible in the air.

"Miss the sun? Naw, we just come down here because we know that poor Ryan here would never survive without us." A familiar head of orange hair sauntered into the scene, his usual cocky grin plastered across his face. "It's been a while, Carlizzle. Wait – you hated being called that, didn't you?"

"Still do," I returned, mirroring his grin as I slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Good to see you, Clark."

I reverted my gaze back to Ryan, who was craning his neck around Clark's still rather short and lanky build. _Am I the only one who grew a few inches here?_ Ryan finally gave up on searching for whatever he was looking for, turning to Clark instead, "Dude, where's your girlfriend?"

"She's finishing some paper she has to write for a course she wants to take next year. She'll probably be here within an hour or so." My brows furrowed at his statement, a short snicker escaping my lips.

"You have a girlfriend? Who is it?" I attempted to stifle my laughter, amused by the simple fact.

Clark sat down and rubbed the back of his neck, refusing to meet my gaze, "Well, uh… it's Erin." My hand clapped itself over my mouth, hiding away the grin that had so sneakily broken through.

"No way," I snickered, revealing the grin beneath my hand as Clark rolled his eyes. "You and Erin? That's just not possible."

"Well, I could have said the same about you and Esme years ago." He shrugged it off, taking a bite of a granola bar he had hidden in his pocket. "What is the big shock, anyway? I mean, it was bound to happen sooner or later."

"He's just jealous," Ryan put in, despite the fact that he was fully aware of Esme sitting beside me. "After all, we all know that Erin was totally into him a few years back." _Ryan knew?_ How could he possibly have known? It had been four – nearly five – years since, and he suddenly knew about the secret affairs of the past?

"How do you know about that?" I inquired softly, all traces of my previous smile instantly wiped from my expression.

"Please, Carlisle, it was completely obvious. Even a blind guy could have seen how much she adored you."

"How about we change the subject, huh?" Esme and I twisted in our seats while Clark and Ryan stared on behind us at the approaching woman. She was tall, very tall; not quite my height, but enough to make Esme seem like a dwarf. Her brilliant brunette hair swung around her waist in the light breeze, swaying as she walked. She flashed a stunningly white smile at me before taking her own seat next to Clark, "Nice to see you again, Carlisle, Esme." She gave a small nod in Esme's direction, the name adopting a particularly dry tone.

"Erin," I began, returning her welcoming smile, "well, you've sure changed a bit." Esme took my hand underneath the table, lacing our fingers together. I gave hers a reassuring squeeze as Erin's eyes flashed to the two of us, seemingly scrutinizing.

"I would say the same, but it seems as though the two of you have stayed quite… consistent." I simply nodded in response, causing a bout of speechlessness to come over the five of us. We each exchanged glances for a few moments before Clark finally sparked a conversation out of one of our many high school mischiefs. For what felt like hours upon hours on end, we each shared laughter, smiles, and even tears whilst reminiscing on our reckless lives as adolescents.

When the time struck around ten-thirty, Esme looked up at the darkening sky and checked her phone, "Well, it's getting late… I should probably start heading home."

"Same here, I still have to finish that paper," Erin murmured, half to herself.

"I thought you finished it before you came?" Clark accused, staring at her in disbelief. "Isn't it, like, really important?"

Erin rolled her eyes, "Sure, like I'd actually take the time to finish a ten page paper before spending time with my friends. Really, which would you choose?" I cracked a small smile at their short bout of bickering before turning back to Esme.

"I'll walk you home, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Of course." She grinned up at me, taking my hand once more. After two semi-light punches on the shoulder from Clark and Ryan and a short yet tight hug from Erin, we said our goodbyes and headed in the direction of Esme's home.

"I take it you still live in the same house?" I queried, my vision scanning the familiar pathways.

"Yeah, I do. Alice doesn't, though; my aunt thought it best that she stay with them at least until I'm out of college. Something about 'being too busy with school to balance work and caring for a sister'." She shrugged. "She'll visit once every couple of weeks though. Fortunately, she's not there tonight." My eyebrows lifted in mock confusion as she unlocked the front door, switching on a few lights as we made our way through the house.

"Are you trying to imply something?" I asked dumbly, playing along with whatever sort of scheme she had up her sleeve for the both of us. Fishing around in her pocket for a second, she pulled out her cell phone and tossed it along with her keys on the desk in the corner of her bedroom.

"Well," she started, placing herself lightly on the edge of the bed, her fingers absentmindedly tracing the pattern of the blanket, "we're both adults now. I'm sure that you're allowed to spend the night away from home without your mother's permission?" One corner of my mouth pulled up in a smirk as I removed her hand from the blanket and sat on the place it had previously rested.

"I can't imagine that she'd mind." My voice was barely above a murmur, the smirk still visible on my lips. I leaned back onto the rather comfortable bed, my arm looping around Esme's waist to pull her down with me.

Oh, how could I ever resist?

… **heehee. ;)**


	21. Chapter TwentyOne

**Okay, so it's kind of almost 2AM over here, and I'm just finishing up this chapter. XD I'm gonna make this a quick note so I can get off to bed… as always, thank you all SO much for all the reviews on the previous chapter! They all put a smile on my face and I absolutely love all the feedback I receive. Some more of that good stuff would be great for this chapter. :D Enjoy!**

_**Esme Platt**_

Waking up next to Carlisle was as close to heaven as I could possibly get, so it seemed. My bleary eyes rested upon the man beside me, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest as he inhaled the fresh morning air. Running a hand through my tousled hair, I sat up and swung my legs off the bed, keeping as quiet as possible in case he were to wake. My footsteps were soft as I made my way towards the bathroom, turning on the warm water faucet when I reached my destination. Luckily enough, my clothes had been shed much earlier before, so I saved myself a step before I immersed myself in the lukewarm water pouring from the shower head. My muscles loosened under the warm water, freeing the tension left by the night before. It had been quite an unforgettable one if I do say so myself; having the love of my life return was most definitely something to celebrate in only the most intimate of ways.

I let the water patter over my body for a few more lingering moments, dreading the departure from the toasty, inviting shower to the chilly air of the bathroom. Finally mustering up the courage to leave the snug environment, I stepped out of the shower, proceeding to quickly wrap a towel around my exposed body. Just as I began to wring out my dripping hair, a faint sound of footsteps made themselves heard as they approached from the direction of the bedroom.

"So this is where you ran off to." The familiar voice danced around my ears, his strong arms around my waist. I smiled to myself as he pulled me backwards toward his chest; he hadn't bothered to slip a shirt on. "I got worried when I woke up and you weren't next to me. I thought maybe you had run off after a one-night stand or something."

"You thought that _I_ ran off?" I suppressed a giggle, one of my hands holding the towel closed while the other reached up to mess with his already tousled blonde hair. "Are you forgetting that we're in _my_ house right now?"

Carlisle let out a short grunt of indifference, pressing his lips to the base of my neck rather than responding to my statement. He muttered something that sounded like 'whatever' against my skin, his grip tightening around my waist. I laughed to myself once more as I took my still-wet hair into my hands and wrung it out over his shoulder. He flinched and jumped back, swatting the stray droplets of water from his skin.

"What was that for?" he questioned with a smile, continuing to dry off his shoulder.

"Well, my hair is soaking wet and I still need to get dressed. You were distracting me from doing so," I responded, a smug smirk taking over my lips.

"Please, it's summer vacation. You don't _need_ to get dressed," he teased, leaning against the door frame, wearing his signature cocky grin.

Wiping any excess water from my body, I responded, "Actually, yes, I do. Alice is coming over later today."

"Should I leave then?"

"No, you don't have to leave. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you since she hasn't in ages." I paused for a moment, my eyes sweeping over his half-naked body. "Although, you may want to consider putting a shirt on before she gets here. We don't want her assuming anything." I brushed past him as I made my way out the door and into my room, sifting through my closet in search of something suitable for the oppressive humidity forecasted for the day. I eventually ended up in a camisole and a pair of denim shorts, not bothering to do anything with my hair. It was only my sister, anyways – and I highly doubted that Carlisle would pay any mind. I bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen, only to find that Carlisle had already situated himself at the table, a bowl of cereal before him next to the Sunday paper. The spoon was halfway to his mouth when he noticed me standing in the doorway, his brows lifting as his eyes widened as if he were a deer caught in headlights.

"Am I allowed to eat your cereal?" he asked, a smile on his lips. I rolled my eyes and nodded in response, pulling up a chair next to his.

"You may as well. No one else does around here." He simply shrugged and continued eating his breakfast while I leaned forward, resting my chin on my fist as my eyes focused on the newspaper, searching for any suspicious or remotely interesting headlines. It wasn't until a few silent moments after that I felt the sensation of a gaze on the side of my face; I looked up from the paper to find Carlisle's eyes set upon me, resting his face in his hands as his lips twisted into a dazzling smile.

I turned my head to face him, mirroring his smile, "What are you looking at?"

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" My cheeks flushed into a bright pink, so deeply that I could almost see it reflected in his eyes. I trapped my lower lip between my teeth for a few seconds before releasing it to capture his in a tender kiss. He smiled underneath my lips, his fingers twining through my caramel locks of hair. One of my arms absentmindedly wrapped around his neck, tightening its grip to keep him from pulling away. The swish of the front door opening flew straight past my ears, as did the call of my name – it seemed as if I was too caught up in the perfection of my knight in shining armor to notice another being entering my home.

"Ez? Esme, are you home?" The fourteen-year old form of Alice rounded the corner, stopping in her tracks as she found Carlisle and I still locked into our embrace at the kitchen table. "Well, I sure wasn't expecting that this early in the morning." My eyes flew open, finally taking notice of the presence of my younger sister. Carlisle and I both jumped asunder at the voice, the colour of his cheeks the same shade of tomato red as mine had been earlier.

"Sheesh, just 'cause you're a legal adult now doesn't mean that you can sit and make out at the kitchen table like that." Alice tossed her jacket on the couch along with her rather small duffel bag before taking a seat on the extra chair on the opposite side of the table. She leaned forward, her weight supported on her elbows as her eyes glanced between Carlisle and I, before eventually setting permanently upon the man beside me. "Holy crap," she murmured, "Carlisle? What are you doing back here?" Carlisle flashed his signature grin, removing his hand from my hair to wrap his fingers around mine beneath the wooden table.

"It's summer break, so I figured that I'd come back and visit for a little while," he explained, locking his gaze on my sister for a couple of moments. Alice simply nodded, seemingly still in shock from the sudden appearance of her older sister's long-lost lover.

"How long are you here for?" she inquired once she had shaken the overwhelming sense of awe that had been present in her previous expression. Upon hearing her question, I glanced up at Carlisle – he'd neglected to mention exactly how long he was staying until he would have to return to college.

"Only for about another week, unfortunately," he responded, his face falling ever so slightly. "The new semester is starting earlier than usual this year." Now it was _my_ turn to wear the mask of shock upon my face.

"A week?" My voice held an incessant amount of disbelief for such simple words. "But you just got back." Carlisle suppressed a sigh, squeezing my hand once again.

"I know," he murmured, letting go of my hand to instead wrap his arm around my waist. "But I'll come back every chance I get this time. I promise." My mouth forming into a frown, I laid my head on his shoulder, having nearly forgotten that Alice was still sitting across the table. Her eyes had focused in on me, blinking every now and then.

"Ez, can I talk to you for a few minutes? Alone?" I lifted my head from Carlisle's shoulder, my eyebrows furrowing with curiosity. Without words, I placed a soft kiss on Carlisle's cheek as I stood up and led Alice to another room, far enough to make sure that we were out of earshot. I took a seat on the armchair against the wall, nodding for her to begin.

"Go ahead," I instructed solemnly as she leaned against the side of the couch across from me. She drummed her fingers across the upholstery for a moment before looking up from the floor and setting her gaze on me once more.

"How long has he been here?" she asked softly, her face displaying no traces of emotion for me to attempt to read.

"Since a couple days ago." I tiled my head to the side, confused. "Why do you ask?" Alice exhaled through her nose, moving from the side of the couch so sit on the cushions instead.

"I was just curious because… I mean, he was gone for so long. How long was it, four, almost five years?" She stopped speaking as she waited for my confirmation, which I gave in the form of a slight nod. "He was gone for all those years, basically ripped your heart out of your chest and stomped on it by doing so, and just as you try to move on when you met that weird Jason dude, he returns and you immediately take him back, just like that?" She snapped her fingers on that word 'that', emphasizing her point.

I sat in silence for a couple of seconds, contemplating what she had just said. "Yes," I finally replied, my face completely still as a statue as my eyes rested on her face.

"Esme, that's nuts." Her words were short, cutting, almost. "Why would you let him back in after he left you for all that time? You don't know if he'll do that again, he just said that he's going back to college in a week. Who knows how long he'll be gone when that time comes." Leaning back onto the backing cushions of the couch, she crossed her arms over her chest as she awaited my reply.

"I took him back because I love him, Alice. You should know that."

"I do know that. I like him, too, and I'll be sad to see him leave again. I just don't want you to get hurt. I saw you when he left for the first time, Ez. I was only ten, and I could still sense how heartbroken and… lifeless you were."

I had opened my mouth to reply, but was caught on the word 'lifeless'. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. He had broken my heart by leaving so suddenly – but even something so devastating did not have the power to change my thoughts and emotions. Words or actions cannot say what love can do. It was a funny thing, love. It could seem to be deceiving, pointing you back to the person who had hurt you the most. But me, I trusted it. By some strange leap of faith, I'd decided to trust one of the most bipolar, strange, and deceiving emotions to not let me down again.

"It won't happen again, Alice," I said slowly, involuntarily dragging out my words. "I trust that it won't happen again."

Alice inhaled a large breath, letting it go in a long sigh a second later. "All right. I believe you. It's your life, I guess there's really nothing I can do to change it." She paused for a brief moment before continuing the ending point of her case. "But, you know, if he decides to knock you up or something and leaves you alone to fend for yourself, then I'll have a big issue. Okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, standing up from my place on the armchair. "Although, I highly doubt that will be happening any time soon." I smiled as I walked towards the room's exit, my walk hitching as I caught Alice's last sentence.

"Well, I hope not. But don't you think that I don't know what goes on, Ez. Even a fourteen year old knows when her older sister has that morning-after glint in her eyes."

**# #**

_Several Weeks Later…_

The neon green numbers of the clock read 4:39 as I sat up in my bed for what felt like the hundredth time that night, groaning out of exhaustion.

"Why can't I just sleep for longer than two hours at a time?" Continuing to mutter to myself, I decided to just give up on getting any more hours of precious slumber. I brushed through my hair with the tips of my fingers, undoing any bedhead tangles that were caught in the long locks. Not bothering to change out of my old t-shirt and sweatpants, I tiptoed past the room Alice was staying in and made my way quietly down the stairs in case I were to wake her. I stopped in the kitchen, rummaging through the cupboards for some sort of food that held any interest. When I found nothing, I shuffled into the living room, turning on the early morning news channel as I flopped onto the couch. I must have either begun to daydream or dozed off, because I awoke with a start as Alice's rather loud footsteps occupied the ground floor of the house. Rubbing my eyes, I groaned once more as I sat up straight on the couch, looking over my shoulder as Alice emerged from the kitchen with two plates and forks.

"Hey, you're up early," Alice commented, noticing me on the couch from where she was standing in the kitchen. "Couldn't sleep again?" I shook my head in response, groggily standing up and shuffling towards the kitchen table. Taking a seat, I began to absentmindedly toy with one of the forks that Alice had placed next to the ceramic plates.

"No, I couldn't sleep again. I don't know what's going on. I mean, it's not like I'm losing sleep over stress or anything, 'cause my mind is perfectly at ease." Alice simply shrugged, opening the refrigerator to sift around for any sort of breakfast food. She eventually pulled out a half-empty carton of eggs, removing three of them before shoving the box back into the fridge, forcing it between a gallon of milk and a wrapped piece of leftover pizza.

"Well, maybe eating something will help you feel better. Do eggs and bacon sound good?" _Eggs and bacon._ Even the words made me nauseous. I didn't respond to Alice's question as I watched her crack each egg on the edge of the pan, the yoke and liquid seeming to drip and slop into the cooking pot in slow motion. My stomach twisted in knots at the sight, flipping and churning as I continued to observe the liquid egg swishing around in the pan. I thought that I heard Alice call my name a couple of times and say something along the lines of, "Esme, are you all right? You're turning green." It wasn't until the scent of cooked egg hit my nose that I completely lost it – my stomach contracted in one large, nauseating know as I sprinted to the restroom at what felt like lightning speed. I collapsed to my knees in front of the toilet, beginning a painful, seemingly never-ending chain of dry heaves over the bowl. Sweat began to break over my forehead as I moaned out of illness, adding to the sickening effect of whatever the hell was going on with me at that point. When it seemed like my sudden fit of illness has come to a close, I leaned my cheek against the cool edge of the bathtub in hopes that it would soothe my feverish head. After what seemed like ages of leaning against the hard, uncomfortable tub side, a knock came to the door and Alice's voice greeted my ears as she opened it and stepped into the rather small room.

"Ez, are you okay in here?" she inquired, taking in the probably not-so-pleasant sight of her sister curled up against the bathtub. She knelt down and placed a hand lightly on my cheek, her expression holding an incessant amount of concern. "Jeez, all I did was ask about eggs, and suddenly you run in here and start dry heaving. Is something going on that I should know about?"

I managed to shake my head, turning away from the tub to lean my back against it instead. "No. I mean, I haven't really been feeling one hundred percent well lately, like I've been a bit nauseous and things of the sort. A bit squeamish, I guess. I suppose the mention of eggs just set it off or something."

"How long has it been going on?" She dropped her hand from my face, and it was then that I realized how truly concerned she was. Her mouth was set into a thin line, creases lining her young forehead.

I stopped to think for a few moments; these strange bouts of sickness most definitely weren't anything new. They'd been reoccurring, much like the many nights of odd sleeping habits. "Around two and a half weeks, maybe three."

Alice huffed through her nose. "I take it you feel completely fine a little while after, right? You seem to be just like normal when I've come to see you recently." Her eyes were partly questioning, partly contemplative as she awaited my response.

"Yeah, pretty much. Why?"

"We should both get dressed and take a trip to the drugstore. I think that we should get you something, Esme."

The front door swung shut behind me as Alice and I re-entered our home, appearing to slam louder than what was normal. I threw the small CVS bag along with its contents on the kitchen table, leaning my hip against the side as I folded my arms over my chest. "I can't believe you made me get a pregnancy test, Alice. You're fourteen years old, what the hell do you know about that stuff, anyway?"

"It's called health class and the media," she answered over her shoulder, hanging her jacket on the coat rack. "Please, Ez, just do it. It's only a precaution – better to be safe than sorry."

"Fine." Shaking my head, I pulled the box out of the bag and proceeded into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I quickly read the back of the package, continuing on to follow the printed instructions as speedily as possible. When I was finished, I set the test down with a trembling hand, kneading my fingers together as I frantically paced back and forth, anxious for the result. I hoped for not only my sake but Carlisle's as well that the result would be negative – with him being away at medical school for the majority of the year and be being busy with both college and a part-time job, we couldn't possibly manage to raise a child on our own. I knew for a fact that there would be several others willing to help, but I couldn't shake the feeling of dreadful apprehension that was trolling throughout my entire body.

"Hey, Ez? It's been way longer than five minutes in there. What does the test say?" My sister's voice halted my frantic thoughts, my eyes slowly lifting from the linoleum tiled floor to rest on the small object sitting on the counter. My footsteps were hesitant as I approached the ledge, my eyes squeezing tightly shut when I picked up the test. Inhaling deeply, I looked down at the stick in my hands. I opened my eyes to look at the result, my breath hitching in my throat, the sound of Alice's fist rapping endlessly against the door making no avail. I simply stared, feeling as if the ground were swaying beneath my feet.

It was positive.


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo

**Bonjour! Well, here's another update for you… though… I'm sad to inform you all that this fanfic may be coming to a close soon. I know, I know, I don't want it to end either. But I'm hoping that you all will be satisfied with the end product when that time comes… and just for kicks, I'm again going to thank my friend/beta Thorfaxic for all of her help with not only this chapter, but also for the brilliant ideas that we've thought up for the ending. Oh, and credit to her for the nickname "chainsaw Jason" too. XD Really, she's the best. (even though you barely update your stories *cough*) So, I'll stop rambling after I thank all of my wonderful reviewers. You guys are awesome, and I absolutely adore all the feedback I receive for this story. :) Thank you all times a billion, and here's another chapter for you.**

_**Esme Platt**_

___Positive. The test was positive._ The room seemed to swirl and fade from around me as I stared at the small, bright green plus sign in the middle of the stick I held in my hands. My fingers were glued to the test until I finally managed to peel them away and set it back on the counter, my legs involuntarily buckling as I plopped down to sit on the edge of the bathtub. One of my hands dropped to rest upon my abdomen while the other supported my weight on the tub side, keeping me from swaying and possibly falling backwards. The sound of Alice's fist knocking against the door suddenly ceased, enveloping the room in near complete silence until the doorknob twisted and the creaky door swung open.

"Okay, before you yell at me for knowing how to pick locks, I'm telling you that it was the ginger's fault. He showed me how to do it a while back." When she received no response, her lips screwed to the side and she took another step closer to where I was perched on the tub. "You know, your ginger friend? Clark? Come on, you've got to remember him. He knows how to pick –"

"I don't care that you can pick a lock, Alice." My low voice sounded false to even my own ears as I tried my hardest to hide my overwhelming concern, the hand that was placed over my abdomen involuntarily molding into a fist.

"Okay, well, that's good to know." She placed herself next to me on the tub side, closely examining my face that must have been set into a mask of shock. Or even, due to the wild emotions that were circulating at high voltage throughout my entire body, terror. "Well, now that I've managed to get in here… are you going to tell me what the test result is?" _Please, like it's not obvious already._ Instead of simply forcing my voice to form the words, I made a slight gesture towards the edge of the counter where the test and its nearly unbelievable result sat. Alice stood up for a moment, craning her torso past my body to catch a glance of the positive outcome. Her eyes were fixed upon the test for a couple of seconds, her mouth forming a string of unintelligible words as she took a seat at my side once more. I squeezed my eyes shut, taking in a deep breath before I opened them once more and lifted my gaze from the tiled floor to look at Alice. Not to my surprise, her eyes were also upon me, her mouth set into a thin line of indifference. I opened my mouth to speak, but my sentence was interrupted by two, distinct words from Alice's mouth.

"You're pregnant."

_Pregnant._ Even just the word seemed much too unreal, let alone the fact that it was now the bittersweet adjective to describe my current state. "I know," I began, speaking quietly in order to keep my voice from cracking under pressure. "What… what am I supposed to do?"

"Well," Alice paused, wrapping her rather thin arm around my trembling shoulders, "you might want to start with telling Carlisle. That would be useful, considering he's the father… wait, he _is_ the father, right? It's not chainsaw Jason?"

"Chainsaw Jason?" I raised one eyebrow, before just shaking off her comment – she was always one that enjoyed using strange analogies. "No, no, it's Carlisle. I'm sure of that."

"Right, then, you should call him or something. Unless you'd rather tell him in person, 'cause I can't imagine telling someone that you're pregnant with their kid over the phone. It just seems like it would be kind of inconsiderate to give that sort of big news over the phone – kind of like dumping someone over text message. It's just cruel." I internally rolled my eyes in response to her rambling – of course she would compare this to such a petty situation.

I held onto the edge of the sink as I pulled myself to my feet, clinging to the edge for support. "Well, he has to know some way or another. I just hope that no one else finds out about this yet. Especially…" I let my sentence trail off, my train of thought halting in its tracks as it considered one of the worst possible scenarios.

"Alice?" I croaked, my fingers still attached to the sink. She stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder, nodding for me to continue. "What if… what if Dad finds out about this?" The image of my father filled my vision, his large, meaty arm pulled back, his fingers clenched into a fist. His face was the same shade of tomato red it had always been during one of his fits of anger, a vein pulsing violently underneath the skin of his forehead.

"He's still in prison, Esme. He can't hurt you, nor will he be able to find out. He had nothing to do with us anymore." Alice's hand put a small amount of pressure on my shoulder a reassuring gesture. "Why are you so worried about him finding out, though? I can't imagine that he'd be angry over a grandchild." Trapping my lower lip between my teeth, I looked over my shoulder at my younger sister. She had one eyebrow raised, her innocent hazel eyes begging for an answer.

"You don't know what he did, Alice," I whispered faintly, "you don't know what he did behind closed doors. You don't know what he was like to me."

"Why don't I know?" She dropped her hand from my shoulder, waiting patiently for a response that I wasn't sure how to give.

I took a deep breath and shuffled out of the bathroom, leaning against the back of the couch.  
Alice, not to my surprise, followed me and stood a few feet away, her arms crossed over her chest. "He wasn't – isn't – a good man. You were young, Alice, I didn't want for you to have to endure the things he did. I took it instead – I let him do what he pleased with me, no matter what it entailed, because I knew that he would eventually get his fill and leave you alone." I paused for a moment, swallowing the large knot that had formed in my throat. "He did a lot of awful things to me, and I just know that it will all come flooding back if he were to find out that I'm," my voice stopped before the last word, unsure if I was truly able to admit it, "pregnant."

Alice seated herself lightly on one of the armchairs, her expression softening as she absentmindedly kneaded her hands in her lap. "I take it that you're not going to tell me about the things that he did?"

"No. No, I'm not going to tell you. I don't think you need to know all the details right now. The only part you should be concerned with is that he is not the man you think he is, and that you should be careful."

She neglected to speak for the next couple of seconds, her eyes traveling to the cordless phone that sat on the end table. "Well, if this topic of discussion is over with," she began with a sigh, "then you should try getting a hold of Carlisle. You shouldn't keep this from him." I sniffled once, straightening my stance as I walked across the room to pick up the phone. Sitting on the chair opposite my sister, I dialed the familiar phone number and waited for an answer. I absentmindedly kneaded my fingers together as the phone continued to ring, seeming like an endless string of tolls until the sound of Carlisle's voice finally hit my ears.

"Carlisle, I –" My mouth stopped mid-word, allowing his voice to continue. '_Carlisle here. Sorry, I don't seem to be available right now; I'll get back to you later.'_ Defeated, I clicked the red 'end' button on the phone and set it back in the cradle. "Voice mail," I muttered, hunching forward as I rested my elbows upon my knees.

"You could have left a message for him."

"This isn't really the best thing to simply leave a message about, Alice."

"Well, maybe his cell phone is off or something. Doesn't his dorm room have a landline in it?"

"Yes, yes it does," I whispered half to myself. I frantically grabbed the phone once more, racking my memory for the number that he had given me. Once I finally remembered the last four digits, I held the receiving end to my ear, waiting for the ringing to end.

"Hello?" came a voice from the other end. I hesitated for a second, unsure of whether or not to proceed.

"I-Is Carlisle there?" I questioned softly, positive that the voice at the other end was not the one of my child's father.

"No, he's not actually. He left a couple days ago and hasn't been back or contacted anyone since." The voice stopped, a slight crackling sound filling the phone. "Is this his girlfriend or something?"

I stifled a short, exasperated sigh; even after nearly five years, I still despised the word _girlfriend_. "Uh, yeah. It is. Could you tell him to call me when he gets back?"

"Sure, I will. I don't know when or if he'll be back though. It was kind of a sudden disappearance. I'll give him the message, though. Catch ya later." Before I could say 'goodbye', the line went dead. I dropped the phone in my lap, throwing my head back against the cushion of the chair.

"He's not there," I informed, "his roommate there said that he left a few days ago and hasn't contacted anyone since." _What if he's gone for good this time?_ I attempted to push the errant thought out of my mind, but it returned a second later in full blast. _What if he decided that there are better things than me? Or he somehow has an idea about the baby and wants nothing to do with it?_ I unknowingly placed a hand over my lower abdomen at the thought, chewing lightly on my bottom lip.

"Maybe something came up." Alice shrugged, pulling me out of my dark thoughts.

I shook my head, lifting my gaze to the ceiling. "No, he would have called if something had suddenly 'come up' like that. He would have notified if he wasn't going to be available." A frown took over Alice's face as she shifted from a standing position to take a seat next to me.

"We'll get a hold of him eventually, Ez. Maybe it's better that you don't tell him right away, you probably still need some time to get a handle on it." I closed my eyes and leaned forward, resting my face in my hands.

"I don't know what to do, Alice," I murmured, my voice muffled by my hands that were placed over my face. She gently leaned her head on my slender shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"You'll get through this. You have me, okay?" she reassured softly. "I know I'm only fourteen, but I'm still here."

"Yeah." I removed my head from my hands, shooting a short glance at my sister beside me. "But, there's kind of something that I neglected to mention before."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Dad." I sucked in an apprehensive breath, my voice quieting to a shaky whisper. "He gets out of prison next Wednesday."

**# #**

The sound of the heavy rain pattering against the window was the only audible noise in the house besides my own breathing. I glanced out of the window at the gloomy grey rainclouds, watching the steady fall of the rain. It had been quite a while since I received the news that Carlisle had suddenly disappeared from the college campus, and during the span of these several weeks, his whereabouts had continued to go unknown. Along with my worries, the small child inside of me had also grown within the lengthy time span – my stomach was finally beginning to become slightly swollen and rounded, and luckily enough, Alice had taken an oath of silence about the pregnancy.

Though my father had made no attempts at contacting either me or Alice since the time he'd been released from prison, it still didn't hinder me from living with a constant sense of alarm. I jumped at nearly every creak of the floor, and flinched every time a door was opened or closed. This mindset of sickening fear also prevented me from sleeping normally, decreasing my attention span when it came to work or school.

The noiseless air was suddenly disturbed by the shrill ring of the phone, earning a flinch from my body as my heart nearly skipped a beat. I pulled myself up from my comfortable position on my bed, managing to grab and answer the phone just before the last ring.

"Platt residence." I brushed a stray piece of hair behind my ear as I waited anxiously for a response, hoping that the smooth tone of Carlisle's voice would soothe my mind.

"Esme?" _That's not Carlisle's voice._ The man's voice was low, raspy – the tone could only belong to one person. "Is that you?"

Air hitched my throat, my fingers tightening around the thin shape of the phone. "Yes," I squeaked, my free hand lifting to nervously twirl a strand of hair between my fingers.

"Hm, how _nice_ to hear your voice again," the man purred, his voice growing huskier as he continued. "What do you say, how about I pay you a little visit sometime soon? I believe we have some… _catching up_ to do."

**I bet you all can guess who's on the other end, eh? XD**


	23. Chapter TwentyThree

**I've lost my mind here. It's 2:06 AM right now and I'm just finishing this chapter to update it for you guys… sheesh, I really need to get back into a regular sleeping schedule. XD I would like to thank you all again, my reviewers, for being so loyal to the story and for all the wonderful feedback. It really does make my entire day. :) And for that I ask a favour: please don't come and find me on some sort of murder mission when you're finished reading this chapter. You'll hate me, I know it. But I don't want to die. XD So, enjoy this chapter while I go and find a deep ditch to hide it so no one can try to kill me.**

_**Esme Platt**_

__My fingers clenched around the plastic coating of the phone as my mouth hung open, unable to form a fully coherent response other than, "Catching up?" I could almost see the malicious sneer that twisted his mouth, his words swirling inside my mind.

"Yes, _catching up_," he repeated, "I suggest you come down to that car repair shop later this afternoon, maybe around four o'clock. Now, I know you, Esme, and don't you try to get out of it. You wouldn't want your little sister in jeopardy, now would you?" _He would never._ I inhaled a shaky breath, preparing myself to reply, but the phone line went dead a second later. I continued to keep the phone held at my ear for a few lifelong moments, before I finally began to pry my fingers away and set it back in the cradle. I leaned my back against the wall, hanging my head as my arms involuntarily snaked around my torso, seeking comfort within the madhouse of sickening fear that was the whole of my body. _Should I flee?_ That seemed like a very agreeable option at this point. I would simply take Alice and run, rent a new car, and flee to a different state, leaving him with no traces of our trail nor a vestige of our existence.

But, no, I couldn't possibly risk that. The most wise option to choose would be to simply meet him at the car garage at four o'clock. As long as I could keep my two main priorities safe – Alice and my unborn child – I basically had nothing to lose. Maybe I'd return with a couple of bruises on my skin, maybe even a battle scar or two. This sort of situation wasn't anything new and exciting – simply just another one of his quests for vengeance. He'd toy around with me for as long as he pleased until he decided that he'd had enough, and I'd be left alone. Alice would go unharmed, though only if he kept his word, and our lives would continue on as normal. This was nothing more than a rock in the path, a fork in the road. Fortunately, unlike many others, I had the experience of how exactly to handle it. _I _was the one who had the advantage.

I hadn't realized until my throat started to burn that I had been holding my breath for the past minute or so. I let the confined air exhale in a long sigh, lifting my head to rest it back against the cold, hard paint of the wall behind me. One of my hands absentmindedly slipped from my torso so rest upon my slightly swollen mid-section, my finger tracing patterns around the tender spot. That would most definitely pose an issue; how was I to keep him away from the most vulnerable area of my body? Wear some sort of ridiculous metal vest?

Before my mind could wander deeper into the terrifying realm, the click of the front door traveled across the room, signaling the entrance of who I assumed was my younger sister. My assumptions were proved correct about thirty seconds later as she rounded the corner, dropping her wallet and a small bag from the local drugstore onto the kitchen table. She turned around to shoot me a short greeting, but halted completely as her eyes took in my facial expression that had to be anything but content.

"Is something wrong?" she questioned, her hand half-submerged in the plastic drugstore bag. "You look like you've just found a dead body in the closet." I pretended to suddenly become preoccupied by a loose string at the edge of my sweatshirt, toying with the rather irksome piece of thread.

"Well, um, Dad called a few minutes ago." My words were slurred, almost as if I wished to jumble them in some sort of undecipherable chain of letters. Alice's already large eyes blinked in astonishment, forgetting completely about whatever contents were inside the bag.

"What did he say?"

I trapped my bottom lip between my teeth for a second, glancing quickly at Alice before returning my gaze to the carpet. "He just asked me to meet him somewhere a bit later, that's all." She tilted her head to the side, folding her arms over her chest.

"And you're going to do it? You're going to meet him there?" I gave a small nod, confirming my answer. Alice studied my expression, searching for some sort of reasoning. "Why?"

I shuffled over to the wooden table, taking a seat in one of the old, creaky chairs. "He'll leave us alone if I see him just this one time. It will hopefully be worth it in the end."

"What if it's not?" she objected, leaning forward with her elbows on top of the table. "He could seriously hurt you, Ez. I mean, really. You're going to go meet someone who could probably fatally injure you while you're pregnant? No, I don't think so."

Finally calming myself down, I set a poker face expression as I too leaned in on the table. "Well, I'm sure as hell not letting you go."

"You should let me go instead. I'm more capable of dealing with him than you are. I'm less likely to be injured," she reasoned matter-of-factly, removing her elbows from the table as she sat back in her chair.

I sighed exasperatedly, twisting my fingers into my hair. "No, I will not let you go. I'm doing this to protect you, Alice. Just leave it be." I believed that I had finally won the small quarrel when she crossed her arms over her chest, huffing in a defeated manner. I simply averted my gaze down to my clasped hands, suddenly becoming fascinated with tracing obscure patterns into the wood with the tip of my finger. The silence was nearly awkward, the air devoid of any noise other than our distressed breathing.

Alice's voice suddenly broke the heavy air, the scrape of her chair against the floor nearly startling me out of my own. "I'll be in my room if you need me," she muttered, her mouth set into a thin, disapproving line. I nodded in response, never bothering to remove my eyes from the table. After she had trudged up the stairs, I heard the not-so-quit slam of her temporary bedroom's door, all noise ceasing as she most likely flopped face-first onto her bed. I shook my head at her antics, glancing at the digital stove clock that read 3:17 PM. I only had a little less than forty-five minutes to prepare myself for whatever was in store at the next hour. I continued to sit at the table for the next couple of minutes, contemplating exactly _how_ to prepare myself. There was really nothing for me to do – God only knew what sort of sickening plan occupied my father's mind at this point. I finally settled on attempting to find some sort of clothing to fully cover my protruding stomach, surely he wouldn't be pleased if he were to notice that his twenty-year-old, unmarried daughter was with child. I made my way up the rather loud staircase and into my room, beginning to rummage through my closet in search of any garment that could fully well hide any suspicion. Once I felt as though I'd completely submerged myself into a sea of clothes, my wandering eyes finally spotted a fleece sweatshirt with the Harvard logo printed on the front, one that Carlisle had lent me and I'd "forgotten" to return. It had always been much too large for me, sagging nearly halfway down my thighs while the rest of my torso swam in the abundance of extra space. It was the perfect article of clothing for my current need, though I felt a twinge of guilt due to the circumstances of which it was being used.

As soon as I pulled the much too large sweatshirt over my head, I checked in the hall mirror to make sure that my mission had been accomplished. I nodded curtly in approval, my eyes observing no trace of the growing bulge beneath the fabric. The numbers of the clock read 3:40 when I reached the bottom of the stairs – only twenty minutes left. My thoughts halted in their tracks for a second, realizing that I had no recollection of a car garage anywhere near in town. _There must be one on the outskirts of the village,_ I presumed, _I may as well go look for it._ After scribbling a short note to Alice, I grabbed my car keys from the basket on the counter and headed out the door, approaching the used Ford that I had recently bought off of one of my neighbours. I shoved the key into the ignition as soon as I slid into the driver's seat, hearing the engine purr to life with quite some difficulty. The local town was quite lively as I forced my car through a jammed line of traffic, there were about as many people walking the streets as there were vehicles shoved bumper to bumper in the traffic holdup. I somehow managed to weave through the others and find my way out of the crowded area, keeping my eyes peeled for any signs of a car repair shop sign at the side of the road. It seemed as though I'd turned down every street in the system, my search making no avail in what felt like hours. Just as I was about to give up and take the risk of blowing off the meeting, I spotted a gravel side road that led up to a faded brick building. Curious, I turned my car around to pull onto the road, gravel crackling beneath the tires as I forced the vehicle up the tiny slope. There was a sign hanging crookedly in the center of the building, the paint chipped so terribly that it made the words nearly illegible. With much squinting, I finally was able to make out the words '_Jimmy's Car Repair'_ from the sign, confirming my assumption that this dilapidated building was in fact the car garage. I pulled the key from the ignition, setting it on the dashboard before I climbed out of the car, taking a few steps towards the repair shop. Cobwebs lined the door handle and the windows were faded with smudges of dirt, adding to the menacing effect of the completely desolate area. _Great, he led me to an abandoned car garage._

I hesitantly pushed the heavy door open, adrenaline beginning to pulse through my veins as I stepped into the dark, musty environment. "Dad?" I called, my shaky voice echoing throughout the vacant building, bouncing off of the concrete floor and back into the air. My breaths started coming in a jagged pattern, my eyes sweeping the darkness for any sort of human silhouette.

"I take it that you're looking for me." I could have sworn that my heart skipped an entire beat when the husky male voice disturbed the air, coming from directly behind me. In an instant, I spun around to face the man behind my back, only to find his lips twisted into a malicious sneer. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or the sickening terror flooding through my veins, but he seemed much larger than he had before, almost as if he'd taken part in a daily workout just to prepare for this occasion. I swiped my tongue across my lips, attempting to rehydrate my mouth that had suddenly gone dry.

"H-Hello," I stammered, my hands involuntarily clasping in front of me as my fingers began to knead together. My father's menacing eyes seemed to burn straight through mine, the sneer on his face transforming into an amused smirk.

"Oh, Esme," he half-chuckled, "why so nervous? Surely you'd be ecstatic after not having contact with me for so many years." His face leaned in dangerously close to mine, his rancid breath flooding over my nose. I could feel my palms break into a sweat as I gave a small, barely decipherable shake of my head in objection to his statement. His fake grin dropped from his mouth, his eyes hardening at my contradiction. "Ah, I see how it is, love."

"Don't call me love." My words were almost a whisper as I took one tiny step backwards, keeping my gaze locked with his.

"I can call you whatever I please," he retorted, latching his meaty hand onto my thin forearm. "You are _my_ daughter, after all. You belong to _me_." His grip felt as if it were burning through my skin underneath the sleeve of the sweatshirt, his fingers giving it a muscled squeeze. Stupidly, I attempted to release my arm from his grasp, but instead received a shove against the concrete wall.

"I don't _belong_ to you, I'm not your property," I retorted, this time my voice amplifying itself to what seemed to me like a snarl. Charles gave me another slam into the wall, using his other hand to secure both of my arms beside me.

He leaned forward once more, resting his knee against the wall between my legs. "Then who do you belong to, that boyfriend of yours? Doubtful, I do believe that I took care of that little bastard." I had opened my mouth to dispute his statement, but before the words left my lips, his hand let go of my wrist and placed itself tightly over my mouth. I struggled against his hold, my body beginning to writhe beneath his iron grip. "He has no right to you; not like I do." I would have been able to sink my teeth into his hand if his grip had been a hair looser, but instead, my strife only intensified. Frantically, my eyes wheeled around to find his fingers wrapping themselves around the bottom of my top layer of clothing, slowly dragging it upwards to pull it over my head. _Oh, God, no._

"And what do we have here?" I watched his gaze descend to my abdomen, my breath hitching in my throat. Before he could reach his filthy fingers to the area, I managed to pull back my leg far enough to give a powerful kick to his shin. He swore loudly, my name getting thrown into the mix of his profanities. For a second, he completely forgot about the bump protruding from my stomach as he pulled back his clenched fist and delivered a forceful punch to the side of my face. The taste of blood flooded my mouth, my vision blurring for a few seconds as he began to speak once more, the first section of his sentence slurring into a chain of jumbled words. "This could pose a large issue," he finished, his dirt-coated fingers finally coming in contact with my bump. My mouth was freed from his hold while he reached into his back pocket, pulling out some sort of rather small, narrow object. He kept it hidden from my view by toying with it behind his back, only heightening my level of terror that was already through the ceiling.

Another impact came to my face, this time a stinging slap across my left cheek with a hint of what felt like the edge of a razorblade. "I think that I'll just take care of this _problem_," he sneered the word, "for you." I managed to crane my neck to the side to try and make out what the object behind his back may have been, but my endeavors were cut short as he secured one hand beneath my jaw, forcing my head upwards and harder against the cold wall. I couldn't help but let out a whimper of pure fear, agonizingly anticipating his next move. My eyes squeezed shut just before he plunged a razor-sharp blade deep into my mid-section, twisting it at an angle. I could feel the warm, scarlet blood begin to seep through my shirt, and naturally, a blood-curdling scream ripped from my throat.

"Scream and cry all you want, love," Charles purred, "there's no one around to hear you." At that, he released his death hold on my body and shoved me to the floor, my weak legs collapsing beneath my weight. I saw his shadow looming over my crumpled body as my hands frantically searched for the stab wound, a pool of red beginning to form and expand at my side. The maniacal sound of my father's satisfactory laugh reached my swimming ears, his last words flying over my head while the now only-too-familiar sensation of the blade sinking into my mid-back made itself front and center in my mind. My jaw fell open in a silent cry of pain, no sound escaping my vocal chords other than a faint squeak. A deep shade of scarlet blotched over my vision, my mind battling to remain in consciousness. _I'm going to die_. _He's going to win by making this floor my deathbed._ I sucked in a large breath of air, hoping that somehow it would fuel my body to hang on just a little bit longer. A broken whimper emanated from deep in my throat, my mind only managing four last words before my mind completely clouded over.

_Carlisle, I love you._


	24. Chapter TwentyFour

**Ah, new chapter. This was a fun one to write, I must say. ;) I'm sorry for keeping you guys waiting so long for this one, but I hope that you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it… a huge thanks goes out to my best friend/beta Thorfaxic, as always, I could never live without your brain, woman. And to all of my reviewers, I love you. You all are awesome and are the driving force behind this whole fanfic. You've kept this thing going for exactly a year, to this day. XD So, I'll shut up and let you read now. :D**

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

_Snap. _The sickening crack of the deer's neck bone was almost like music to my ears, each individual fracture like a wind chime tolling in the soft breeze. It was odd to consider such a repulsive sound to be delightful, but after weeks upon weeks of starvation, the sound was anything but displeasing. Once the corpse had been drained of its precious blood, I tossed the broken body aside to the bushes, sending a silent 'thank you' for my meal. _What a life this has become,_ I thought silently, deciding to leave the rest of the forest animals to their lives. _Dwelling in a forest and draining animals of their blood. This certainly wasn't the sort of change I expected._

Luckily, the sky was overcast enough to allow me to walk freely without staying confined to shaded areas, so I took advantage of the opportunity and made my way through the maze of trees, eventually ending up in the outskirts of a vast, abandoned field. My eyes swept through the area, searching for any direction of civilization. After a few moments of searching, I managed to find the last traces of a gravel trail that most likely led to some section of the town. I didn't bother to quicken my pace past a normal human one as I shuffled down the trail, my eyes fixed on the ground before me. It was an ongoing debate in my mind whether or not it was a wise move to return to California – I couldn't possibly continue my studies at this point, but the risk of being caught in what I considered my hometown was far too great. Settling in a scarcely popularized part of a forest definitely was not my first choice, though I had to admit that it was comforting to have a vestige of familiarity in my temporary home. The sights, sounds, scents – I'd rather that I was accustomed to these than having to familiarize myself with an entirely new environment. As much as I wish I could say that was my only reason, it was only one among the several hopes I had for returning to my home. Leaving Esme behind had to be my most heart wrenching regret – like Romeo and Juliet, I felt as if I should be banished from her life, feeling as though neither our love nor my _species_ would be accepted. Although, unlike the late Romeo, there was no quarantine keeping me from returning anyways.

I kicked a stray pebble aside from the path, stuffing my hands deep inside my pockets. No, there wasn't anything stopping me, except for myself and my own insecurities. There was no guarantee that she would even consider letting me back into her life – after all, she had perfectly good reasons to want to keep me out of it.

The gravel path was beginning to fade away into a sea of dehydrated grass when I finally reached a couple of old, dilapidated buildings at the end of the trail. I craned my neck upwards, assessing the height before I proceeded to scale up the side – surely I'd be much less conspicuous if I were hidden at the top of a building rather than freely walking the crowded streets. My footsteps were silent on the vacant rooftop until I landed with a muted thud on the structure beside it, the soles of my shoes now carelessly scuffing across the surface. I'd let my mind wander so far into its own realm that the sound of a muffled female scream nearly flew straight past my ears. _What the hell?_ My head snapped up straight, tuning my extended hearing in an attempt to find the sound once more. Instead, the only resonance audible to my senses were a few broken whimpers and a maniacal chuckle emanating from what seemed like an abandoned building at the end of the lot. Leaping down from the rooftop I had been on, I slunk my way over to the occupied building, dropping into a crouch a few feet from the entrance. I held my breath for sake of self-control, the potent scent of human blood flooded through the area and danced around my nose, toying with my senses. _Do I go in?_ I contemplated silently, taking a few short breaths through my mouth. _Dammit, Carlisle, you have to go in. Somebody could be dying in there._ I shook the small voice out of my mind, straightening my posture ever so slightly as I slowly approached the door.

I managed to squeeze through the small opening of the door, being sure to fully conceal my presence. I once again held my breath, clapping one hand over my nose to secure that no appealing scent would be able to enter. Whoever else that resided in the building were far off from where I had entered – I could hear a deep male voice muttering several derogatory terms coupled with the fading whimpers of another human being. _Here goes,_ I sighed mentally, preparing myself to plunge face-first into a questionable situation of life-or-death self-control.

I kept myself well-hidden in the shadows, slinking through the environment with my back pressed close to the wall. Though my extended senses could already hear each word and breath each person took, the sounds grew louder as I came closer and closer to the scene. My eyes finally reached the two inhabitants a matter of seconds later – they were confined to the muggy, nearly claustrophobic area in the back that couldn't have served for anything more than a rather large storage closet. The man's husky voice bellowed through the room, carrying on a string of profanities while simultaneously striking a crumpled form on the concrete floor before him. He had to be at least double the size of the young woman on the ground –sinewy muscles bulged from underneath the sleeves of his shirt, his tall shadow long enough to completely envelope the woman in shadows. Despite the fact that her back was to me, I could vividly imagine her face contorted in a grimace of pain with each strike that came to her petite body.

Once I stepped only a centimeter out of my hiding place, I made the brainless mistake of letting my hand fall from my nose, opening up the airways and allowing the sweet scent of freshly spilled blood to swirl teasingly through the air. I could nearly feel the dilation of my pupils, sensing that my eyes had shifted to a harsh, coal black as my vision found the inviting pool of scarlet beside the female. Venom pooled in my mouth, my fists clenching as I desperately exerted my entire being into remaining in control. The tempting blood simply continued to flow from the wounds, streaming down the floor and settling into the cracks and crevices in the concrete. I squeezed my eyes shut, gulping down the abundant amount of venom before beginning to breathe only through my mouth. Upon regaining my full control, I was jerked from my second of peace by a sharp shout from the man in the middle of the room.

"Who's out there?" he demanded, spiraling around in search of another being. "Don't you hide, coward." Suppressing a faint snarl from deep in my chest, I took a small step out from the corner and into the entryway of the room. Heavy silence fell over the both of us as he turned around to set his menacing gaze on mine, staring unblinkingly at my – in all modesty – perfect stature in the doorway. He took a step towards me, straightening up to appear as if he towered over me. I simply stood my ground, my hands placed calmly at my sides.

"What are you doing?" My mouth was set into a thin line as he sized up my appearance, his eyes raking up and down my body.

"Just teaching this little _bitch_ a needed lesson," he responded acidly, sharply gesturing towards the young woman curled up on the floor. I dropped my gaze to her form for a moment, my eyes sweeping across the excessive amount of wounds that covered her skin. Her face was covered in a curtain of matted hair, disguising her identity. I couldn't help but notice that the perfume of her body was strangely familiar, though my focus was broken by the man pounding the toe of his boot into her side again. In a split second, my fingers were wrapped around his shirt collar and I had him slammed up against the wall, his feet dangling a few inches above the ground. He took one meaty hand and wrapped it around my wrist, struggling against my iron grip. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he spat, his head rearing back and forth as he desperately tried to free himself from my grasp.

"Leave her alone." My voice was a snarl as my upper lip curled into a menacing growl. He mouthed the word 'no', craning his neck as close to my face as possible, his rancid breath flooding into my nose. A rather loud hiss escaped my mouth before I spun in a one-hundred and eighty degree angle, releasing the collar of his shirt to send him flying across the room. His back hit hard against the opposite wall with a _thud_, his entire body sinking down to the floor. To my displeasure, his leg had been extended as he sat, the sole of his shoe coming in contact with the woman's head. Her body flinched, managing to turn onto her back and finally reveal her face from underneath the sea of hair. I lost interest in the lump of a human by the wall for a brief moment, taking in the sight that lay before me.

One side of her face was stained purple with a bruise, a drop of blood leaking from the corner of her mouth. Both of her eyes were squeezed shut, her chest rapidly rising and falling with the hyperventilating breaths. Most of the blood was still spilling from her mid-abdomen, her originally navy blue shirt spattered with scarlet. Some of it had even managed to mat into her hair, tangling the soft, caramel locks in some sort of sick, twisted embrace.

Esme.

For a moment, the entire world seemed to come to a halt. The only recognizable sounds in the area were the beat of the hearts as they pumped luscious blood throughout their veins. I knelt down on one knee over her body, placing my hand softly on the un-scathed side of her face. The man – who by this time I had realized was her father – continued to go unnoticed as he sat against the wall, attempting to regain his strength. I ignored his groans of aggravated pain, my ears still completely focused on the two heartbeats teasing my senses. They both beat out of time, the noise floating around the room until a tiny flutter made itself heard behind the other, more potent rhythms. My eyes scanned the room, searching for the source of the tiny flutter, but following the sound only led me straight back to the woman before me. Her heart was pumping frantically, pounding in my ears as it clung onto her life; Charles' heart was nearly the same frenzied rhythm, only filled with adrenaline rather than fear. _Where was the other one coming from?_ I leaned in closer to Esme's broken form, following the sound once more until it finally led me to the origin – I sucked in my breath once more as my head hovered directly above the main source of the bleeding. The miniscule heartbeat was coming from her lower abdomen. My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, continuing to listen to the small fluttering inside. It seemed as though my head had laid there for centuries, until Esme gently stirred beneath me and the tiny beat came to a close. Finally snapping back into reality, my torso shot straight up and my eyes zeroed in on the doorway opposite my position.

She had been pregnant. She had been pregnant with _my_ child – and he, the worthless being slumped against the wall, had stolen that new life from her. I pulled myself to my feet, the soles of my shoes slapping against the concrete, not paying a bother to keeping silent.

I came to a halt directly in front of Charles as he still attempted to bring himself to his feet. He was about halfway up before I pulled my arm back and punched him clear across the face, his head snapping to the side accompanied by the crack of his jaw. He clapped his palm over his jaw, grunting with pain he felt around for any stray droplets of blood that may have somehow escaped from his mouth.

"What did I ever do to you?" he bellowed, his mouth set into a grimace of misery.

"You hurt her," I stated, stepping in closer to Charles. "That's what you did. Maybe someone should abuse and beat _you_ down to a pulp, maybe someone should rape _you_. Or they could plunge a knife through _your_ stomach and see how you like it." I reached down toward where the open pocket knife was scattered on the floor, wrapping my fingers around the plastic handle before I aimed it straight at his chest, the bloodstained blade penetrating his skin as a thick sheet of blood seeped around the wound. Unfortunately enough for Charles, I had let go of the breath I was holding and allowed myself to inhale the succulent scent of his blood. Pulling the knife from his chest, I held onto it in one hand while my razor-sharp teeth sunk through the warm skin of his throat, directly below a rapidly pulsing artery. The white-hot burning in my throat was finally quenched with the smooth liquid pouring into my mouth while the weakened body of Charles writhed beneath my grasp. His agonized cry of pain was finally enough to let me detach my teeth from his throat, wiping a stray drop of blood from my lips. His eyes were glazed over as he stared unblinkingly at the wall, his breaths coming in short, distressed huffs. Blood spilled down his neck and over his shoulders, staining the fabric of his shirt and trickling onto the floor.

"I may as well finish you off while I'm at it." Another snarl ripped from my throat as Charles turned his gaze towards me, his eyes begging for mercy. The handle of the knife was still pressed firmly into the palm of my hand, droplets of red falling from the tip of the blade. "For Esme." He opened his mouth to attempt to respond, but I immediately crushed his chance to speak by sinking the blade into the wound I had made beforehand to widen the opening and reveal the most vital bodily organ: his heart. The muscle pulsed wildly when I exposed it to the thick air, the powerful scent inviting me closer. Managing to refrain from letting my thirst take over once more, I reached my hand out to his chest, appearing as though I were trying to help him. He grunted again, recognizing my actions for the slightest of moments until I let out an intimidating snarl, latching my fingers around the pumping muscle, holding it in an iron grasp.

"You don't deserve to have a heart."

Charles' eyes set their stone gaze on mine, his face completely disguised by a mask of pure torment. I clenched my jaw, saying no more as the room fell silent around the three of us, my fingers still clenched around his weakly beating heart. His blood stained my entire hand, the sickening snaps and tears of the muscles and veins that kept his heart intact almost making me nauseous. His breathing suddenly ceased and his eyes completely glazed over once the muscle had been completely detached from his body, my hand still wrapped around the limp, bloody lump. I extended my arm out beside him, giving the heart one last violent squeeze before I let it fall to the floor, landing almost silently on the ground.

I let my vision linger on Charles' lifeless body for a few lasting moments, feeling no sense of regret. I then turned on my heel and faced the woman sprawled across the floor, barely audible whimpers emanating from her body. My breaths began to come in shaky huffs as I knelt down next to her once more, trailing the tips of my fingers down her beautiful face. Her eyelids began to flutter, opening into small slits as her head rolled over towards my lap.

I couldn't let her die.

I couldn't let her slip away, but I couldn't assure myself that I had enough self-control. It was a choice between giving her 'life' or letting her go – and I was not willing to give into that second option.

I gently brushed the matted hair away from her neck, exposing the inviting skin. I ceased inhaling through my nose, leaning in close enough that my breath bounced off of her throat.

"I'm sorry, Esme," I murmured, my lips coming in contact with the skin ever so slightly, "but this is going to hurt."


	25. Chapter TwentyFive

***deep breath* It's over. A done deal. C'est fini. This is the last chapter, my friends. I don't even know what to say here, so I'll just… do this.**

**I thank you all dearly from the deepest, darkest chambers of my heart for staying with this fic and supporting it for so long. I honestly can't express my gratitude enough. Sure, it's just a mere fanfiction, but the fact that all of you kept with it so loyally really does make my heart swell. You're all amazing and this fic would have been far from a success if it weren't for all of your support and loyalty.**

**And Thorfaxic, you know how much I love you, probably because I'm damned into doing so. XD But apart from that, you're amazing also. You're my fantastic beta and best friend, and I can't thank you enough, either. I LOVE YOU!**

**Okay, okay. Enough of the sappy stuff, until I burst into tears because the fact that this is over will finally sink in. So while I blow through an entire box of tissues, enjoy the final chapter of Dry Ice! :D**

_**Esme Platt**_

__Darkness. Every time I tried to look at what was going on around me or each attempt I made to peel open my eyelids, the world was enveloped in a sea of black and red. The stab wound that penetrated the middle of my abdomen sent a dull yet splitting pain through every nerve of my body, weakening and nearly canceling out every one of my senses – every one except for taste. I could still taste the overwhelming, salty blood that flooded inside my mouth, spilling out of the corners before trickling slowly down my jawline. All of the wavelengths of sound that danced around my ears had faded to a dull buzz, teasing and tricking me into falling deeper beneath the surface and into the jaws of pure hell. Just as I felt that it was over, that I had finally lost the battle, the room suddenly started to shake for a few split seconds as if something had forcefully been shoved into the wall. Once the vibrating had ceased, there was silence – or at least it was silent to me – that fell over the area, the only audible sound was the one of the blood pounding through my ears. The heavy silence seemed to drag itself onward for ages, the pressure of the air feeling as if it were a paperweight pinning me to the floor. I could have sworn that I felt something – another person, maybe – lean in over my crumpled body, sending a tremor of dread through my nerves in fear that the being could be my father. There was a brief, tingling sensation of what felt like breath on the side of my throat, though that could have been my swaying, half-conscious imagination toying with my mind.

Then, burning.

It began in the right side of my neck, the exact spot that the breath had tickled before. At an agonizingly sluggish pace, it began to spread downwards, enveloping my limbs and the whole of my torso in blazing hot fire. _Is this hell?_ I could feel a wail of pain building in my throat and struggled to keep my mouth shut – there was no use in screaming and making a fool of myself for whoever was around in this realm that I had been pulled into. Each breath that I took stung my airways and set my lungs ablaze, so I instead settled for holding my breath as long as I could resist. At last it seemed as though my entire being had gone numb, the fire ceasing to burn in certain obscure areas. I'd finally begun to release the tension in my muscles, but before I could manage to move any of my limbs or even my fingertips, the burning flared up once more, intensified by one hundred. Eventually I gave into the agony, shamefully allowing the piercing scream to rip from my throat and into the ears of whoever was around to hear it – if anyone at all. It felt like my eyelids had pulled open, but nothing greeted my vision on the other side. The environment was devoid of any like of comfort, keeping my attention focused on the thousand degree flames that twisted and lapped through my veins.

Yes, I was definitely in hell.

**# #**

At last, everything seemed to have finally come to an end. The scorching fire had at last been extinguished, my breathing slowing to a rather normal pattern while my muscles released their pent-up tension. I simply laid on whatever surface I had been placed on for the next few moments, feeling almost afraid of opening my eyelids in fear of what I would find on the other side. Instead I clenched my fists, letting my nails dig into the skin of my palms, waiting to feel some sort of pain from the gesture.

_Nothing._

_I must be dead._ I let my fingers fall limp before subtly inhaling a deep breath, preparing to open my eyes to the possibly unfamiliar world before me. At first I only dared to let them open into small slits, shielding my eyes from the early morning light shed throughout the environment. I managed to pull myself into a half-sitting position, noticing that the surface beneath my hands was not the concrete floor of a car garage, but the soft microfiber of a couch cushion in somebody's home. Though my surroundings were dim, my now wide open eyes could pick up absolutely everything. I wasn't sure if it was the way the light hit it, but I could make out every fleck of dust that floated across the room and every stitch in the fabric of the sofa; it was like everything had suddenly been enlarged in hopes that it would finally be noticed. Even the slightest nuisances were breathtaking from this perspective.

"You're awake." To my surprise, I barely flinched as the soft voice suddenly disturbed the silence. In fact, I was much too intent on the clarity of the sound; why was everything all of a sudden so clear, so pure? "That took longer than expected, I was afraid you weren't going to come to."

I turned my head towards the voice, brushing a stray lock of hair from my eyes. He was a silhouette against the light, his lean form standing at least a head taller than my own. I couldn't quite decipher his appearance yet despite my oddly renewed vision, but his build and mannerisms seemed strangely familiar. "How long was I out?"

"Since Thursday," the voice replied.

"And today is…?"

"It's about six AM on Monday." _Three days?_ I'd been unconscious for three entire days?

"I was out for that long? Why?" I inquired, swinging my legs off the sofa to straighten my posture.

"You were." He finally stepped away from the window, allowing a small amount of light to be shed on his face. "The reason might… take quite a bit of explaining."

"Well," I began, folding my hands in my lap, "I'm not going anywhere." The man nimbly ran his fingers through his hair before taking a seat beside me, keeping a few inches radius between our bodies. For a few moments, I kept my gaze fixed on the floor, examining the elaborate patterns in the smooth finish of the wood. It wasn't until he touched my arm that I finally looked over at the being next to me, mentally kicking myself for failing to recognize him sooner. My expression must have been quite a sight, because a small smile slowly spread across his face upon looking me straight in the eyes.

"Long time, no see," he murmured, neglecting to remove his hand from my arm. Dumbfounded, I said nothing within the several minutes to come, letting his touch linger on my skin. Once again, he'd simply _appeared_ – where was he a few weeks, a few _months_ ago? Where was he during the time that I really needed him?

"Where have you been, Carlisle?" My low yet cutting tone immediately dissipated the smile that had overtaken his face, his features remolding into a forehead lined with concern and eyebrows furrowed in what looked quite like confusion.

"That, um…" he let the sentence trail off as his eyes flickered away from mine for a minute, suddenly becoming enthralled in the newspaper that was scattered across the coffee table. "… that's all part of the entire explanation." I gave him the signal to begin explaining in the form of a nod, gently leaning my back against the sofa cushion. Carlisle pulled his hand back from my skin, clasping his fingers together while he inhaled deeply, hesitating before he began.

I sat and waited for his voice to break the silence for what felt like hours, my gaze fixed on his body while his eyes were glued to his hands. I was just about to speak myself when his faint voice suddenly interrupted, "May I first ask you why exactly you met your father at that garage? Surely you know that he could have killed you, Esme." Now it was my turn to look away, refusing to meet his eyes.

"I was aware of that, yes," I whispered in response, "I'd just rather that I go than Alice. I know that she would have, so I had to make sure that she was safe first."

"That's understandable." I looked up at him as he said this, hopeful that he wouldn't join my younger sister in scolding me for my act of stupidity. He cracked a slight smile as he noticed my gaze, but it disappeared a moment later. "But didn't you think to just run instead?" I nodded in response, somehow finding the courage to keep my eyes off of the floor.

"Yeah. I did, but then I reconsidered – as terrible as he is, my father isn't a stupid man. I know that he'd be able to find us anyway." I paused, giving in and letting my eyes slip away from his. "I know, it would have been safer to run for all… three… of us." Absentmindedly, my palm placed itself on my lower abdomen, the sudden flatness going unnoticed for a few split seconds. It took a few seconds before it hit me that, for one, I'd neglected to ever mention to Carlisle that I'd been carrying his child, and two, that it looked and felt like said child was no longer inside of me. My other hand joined the first on top of my stomach, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "What?" My voice was barely above a whisper in an attempt to keep my sudden trepidation hidden.

"Are you all right?" Carlisle's voice managed to soothe my consternation ever so slightly as his hand laid gently on my shoulder, his fingers gently massaging the area. Drawing in a shaky breath, I responded with a curt nod, unsure of whether or not I still had the ability to speak at this point. "You're sure?"

"You knew, didn't you?" It wasn't much of a question, but a statement. My fingers abandoned their place to twine themselves together in my lap as I stared at his face, waiting for a reply.

"Did I know about what?" I couldn't quite decipher whether or not he was being honest playing dumb – the true glint of puzzlement in his eyes seemed much too believable.

"Don't play games with me, Carlisle. You had to know. If you really found me three days ago like you said, it was blatantly obvious that I am – was – pregnant." I hesitated, my fingers kneading into my palms. "What happened?" It was then that I defeated him, his shoulders slouching down as he stifled a short sigh.

"Fine, you were right. I did know, but not for long. I only figured it out shortly before it was, well… you know, gone." He reached toward my hand, laying his fingers over my tightly clasped ones once he figured that he wouldn't be able to separate them. "Now, before you say anything, I want to point out that there was nothing I could –

"There was nothing you could do. Of _course_ there wasn't. That's what they all say." He opened his mouth to reply, but I continued to speak anyways. "You didn't even _try?_"

Before I could say anything more, he laid his other hand on the side of my face, his fingers threaded through my hair. "Esme, hear me out. Please." When he was assured that I was going to stay quiet, he inhaled slowly and began to speak once more. "I wouldn't lie to you. I honestly admit that there was nothing I could possibly do. It was over less than a minute before I was even aware of it. The only reason I did what I did was because I knew that there wasn't anything for me to do to help."

Puzzled, I raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'did what you did'? What did you _do_?" The corner of his mouth curved upwards in a tiny smile for a split second before he noticed my rather demanding expression.

"Surely you feel at least a little bit different from three days ago," he replied, his hand gently removing itself from its place on my cheek.

"No shit, Sherlock." My voice was acidic, so much that I almost made myself flinch.

"That's not what I meant, Esme." He gave me a knowing look, almost silently scolding me for failing to recognize his point. "Here, come with me." Pulling himself to a standing position, he held out his hand for mine. I completely disregarded his offer and stood up as well, stuffing both my hands in the pockets of my jeans. He simply shrugged it off, his fingers lightly grazing the bare skin of my arm as he led me towards a small, framed mirror on the opposite side of the room. Gesturing towards the reflective surface, he stepped aside to let me forward, setting his hand on my shoulder once more. I huffed, rolling my eyes before skeptically gazing back at the reflection staring me straight in the face.

I could have sworn that the expression worn on my face was one of vexation, but the face that greeted me on the other side said much different. The skin that stretched over her bones was a ghastly shade of white, not a blemish to be found. Her hair fell loosely around her shoulders, a brilliant shade of caramel that could only be suitable for a fairy tale – but the sight was barely able to be considered a happy-ending fantasy. The reflection's irises were a deep, menacing shade of scarlet, the vibrant colour only peeking around the edges of the pupils dilated to five times their size. She simply stared back at me, mirroring every blink of my eyes and every twitch of my muscles.

This was not my reflection. This was the face of a monster.

"What did you do to me?" I repeated lowly, the lips of the monster in the mirror in perfect synchronization with my own. Carlisle's hand slipped off my shoulder, falling limply at his side.

"I-I…" he stammered, obviously at a loss for some sort of rational explanation. "You were going to die, Esme, I couldn't… I couldn't let that happen."

"You didn't answer my question. _What did you do?_" I turned around to face him, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. "You could 'help' me but not our baby? That was our _child_, Carlisle, our own flesh and blood. Why would you choose me, just a person you know, over that?"

"The child was gone before I could have done anything in the first place," he replied softly. "The damage was done. He or she was broken beyond repair." He apprehensively ran his fingers through his rather tousled hair before leaning against the back of the couch, chewing on his bottom lip. "But to answer your question, I'm just going to put it bluntly rather than jumping around it with my words: vampires."

"Seriously?" I retorted sarcastically. "What are you smoking?"

Carlisle blinked and shook his head sadly, probably internally rolling his eyes. "Nothing, Esme. I'm not smoking anything. I'm telling you the truth. Look at yourself; look at me. Do we honestly look like regular human beings to you?" I glanced over my shoulder at the mirror once more, the deep yet vibrant shade of scarlet glinting in the reflected light. I then looked back at Carlisle, whose eyes, I now noticed for the first time, were a fierce shade of ocher – only a few shades darker than his head of brilliant blonde hair. He caught sight of my curious gaze and forced a small smile, shrugging his shoulders in a sort of 'I told you so' manner. I then lowered my head to examine the skin of my arm; I'd always been quite pale my entire life, but never _this_ pale.

"This has to be some kind of joke," I muttered, exhaling heavily from my nose. "This is ridiculous, Carlisle. This is all just some prank – admit it. It's one hell of a good one, I'll give you that, but there's no way that it's anything but a sham." He had no reply, simply staring incredulously at me before taking my hand in his to lead me into the kitchen. I had to admit that the long lost sensation of his fingers wrapped around mine was a nice one to finally revisit, but it ended abruptly a moment later when he dropped my hand to sift through the drawers.

"What must I do to make you believe me, Esme?" he murmured rhetorically, finally finding what he had been looking for. I peered around his shoulder to attempt to make out what the object was, catching sight of a fragment of light that glinted off of the silver. His eyes swept over what I assumed was a blade for a minute before he turned to face me, holding the object that I now recognized to be a large knife out for me to see.

"What do you plan on doing with that?" I inquired, sizing up the deadly blade.

"I'm going to prove to you that what I'm saying is true," he responded matter-of-factly, pushing the sleeve of his shirt a little further up his arm, exposing the skin. He gripped the handle of the knife in his opposite hand as he pressed the edge onto the pale skin of his forearm, his muscles hardening with the amount of force he applied. "Now, I want you to take the knife and drag it across my arm." I curtly shook my head 'no' and took a step back, crossing my arms over my chest.

"No," I said, my voice trembling. My eyes were fixed on the glistening blade, but my mind forced me back into the past, to those five years ago in the town park. Carlisle and I, alone by the picnic table, our first kiss interrupted by an unwelcome visitor and the crack of a gun. His blood staining my hand and soaking through his hair, the endless months spent in the hospital by his bedside. No, I couldn't hurt him again. I couldn't bear to see his blood.

"Esme, you're not going to hurt me. That's what I'm trying to show you," he assured me softly, gesturing for me to step forward. "Please. I promise." I hesitated for a couple of seconds before tentatively stepping forward, extending my arm to take a grip on the handle. I placed my hand on top of his, wrapping my fingers around it as tightly as I could manage. Slowly, I began pulling the knife towards myself, dragging the razor-sharp blade across his skin. I had squeezed my eyes shut in a pathetic attempt to keep his blood from clouding my vision as I pulled, nearly chewing through my bottom lip in the process. "Open your eyes," Carlisle's faint voice instructed, "you need to see this." Hesitantly, I peeled open my eyelids, setting my gaze on the blade that hadn't even made a mark on his skin. I applied more force to the knife, pressing it as hard as I could manage against his arm, and strangely enough, I didn't even grimace in effort as my fingers gripped the handle harder than what I would have thought possible. My mouth needlessly grimaced in effort as I tried to make even the slightest mark in his arm, but suddenly, the plastic handle of the knife crumbled in my hands, pieces crumbling into dust while other strips of plastic and metal drifted to the floor. I watched the pieces as they settled on the linoleum before prying open my fingers, letting the dust slip out of my palm and pile on top of the other remaining remnants. It felt as if my jaw dropped to the floor as I stared at my hand, flexing my fingers in and out of a fist. I then looked back at Carlisle to find him staring back at me with a small smile plastered across his face, his bare arm still held out for me to see.

"What just happened?" I asked plainly, gesturing towards the pile of dust with my eyes. Carlisle pulled his sleeve back down and stepped forward, bending down to scoop some of the dust into his hand.

"You broke it," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "With sheer strength. It's part of what we are; super strength and invincibility to an extent. That's also why my arm isn't even scathed in the slightest." He took a few steps forward and extended his hands towards the metal door handle of the refrigerator, extending his hands towards it to wrap his fingers around the chrome bar. He slowly twisted his wrist to the side, the metal straining against his grip as it bent to the side before eventually breaking off with a _snap_, a couple small shards of chrome falling to the floor a couple feet away from the knife's dust pile. Carlisle turned around to face me, leaning his back against the fridge.

"Do you have any inkling of belief in this now?" he questioned, twirling the fridge handle effortlessly between his fingers.

"Well, it's definitely out of the ordinary," I responded, my gaze flickering from the fridge handle to the pile of dust. "Not something you see every day, nor does it seem… human. I just – I just can't see how any of this is _real_, Carlisle. It's insane. I mean, really, vampires? How can that even hold any merit?"

"Would I lie to you, Esme?" He gently set the fridge handle on the counter, keeping his gaze fixed on me as his hand lightly trailed down my arm. I rested my shoulder against the wall, loosely crossing my arms over my chest.

"I'd like to think that you wouldn't." I refused to lift my gaze to his, suddenly becoming fascinated with the patterns on the kitchen floor. "But I'm not sure if I can believe that."

"Why not?"

I inhaled a slightly shaky breath, sliding off the wall as I took a step forward. I reached toward his right hand that rested against his leg, taking it lightly into my own. "Those five years ago, Carlisle, when you left with your father. You said, you _promised_, that you'd come back as soon as you graduated high school." I paused for a moment, chewing on my lower lip. "And you didn't." He gave my fingers a squeeze, removing his other hand from his pocket to gently take hold of my elbow.

"As much as I'd like to say that it's not my fault, I can't. I know that I hurt you, Esme, and I regret that. I should have come back, but I let myself get too caught up in other things and…" He hesitated for a brief moment, "and I don't want that to ever happen again. That's part of why I decided to change you, to give you this life. I know that by turning you, I could keep you with me; though only if you wish to stay." Both of his hands slid away from their contact with my body, his fingers gripping the counter behind him as he leaned back onto it. "I understand if you don't want to forgive me," he said softly, his irises visibly darkening with emotion. I stood my ground for a second, exhaling briefly through my nose. Stepping over and around the pile of dust, I made my way over to his side, leaning my hip against the edge of the kitchen counter. He looked down at me as I rested my elbow on the rather chilly surface, and I couldn't help but crack a tiny half-smile.

"You know, if Alice were here, she'd tell me not to forgive you," I halfheartedly laughed sarcastically. "But that's Alice, a fourteen year old girl with no idea what love even is. Now that I think of it, she's just like I was. After my mother passed, I never thought I'd ever find the meaning of it, let alone love itself, nor did I think I'd ever know how to forgive. Everything from then on out just enforced those two ideas, and I was positive that I'd die old and alone, surrounded by cats." I smiled briefly again. "Then I met you. I shied away at first; not because I didn't like you, because I was afraid. I was afraid that by acting on what I saw in you, that it would shatter everything I thought I had already assured myself of. I didn't want to suddenly be thrown into some sort of mess, like those scenarios you see in the movies when the girl is sure that she'll never find someone, then she does and everything gets flip-flopped. But then after that night in the forest and the day at the cliff and even everything after that, I realized this said mess had already started a long time ago. It started _because_ I said that I didn't want it, and avoiding it just made it happen. And, you know, Carlisle, you and I both know that we've put ourselves through a lot in these past five or so years, despite whether or not we were even together at the time. Many people would say that they'd change those things if they were in our position, but I can honestly say that I wouldn't. I always told myself that I didn't want the mess that comes with love and relationships, but I guess it took that inevitable mess to make me realize that it's what I needed. I _love_ you, Carlisle. And with love comes forgiveness." I removed my arm from the ledge, straightening my posture as I awaited his response, if he were to even give one at all. For a couple lifelong moments, he just stared at me, his fingers gently kneading his palms. I could detect a hint of a grateful smile at the corner of his mouth, and just as I was about to say something more, he caught me completely off guard as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. It started out softly at first, then grew more intense as the moments wore on. Before either of us realized it, my fingers were tangled in his silky hair and his in mine, the two of us bound together as if we were glue. His hands slid downwards to rest around my waist when we finally broke apart, our foreheads tenderly pressing against one another. We both stood in blissful silence for what felt like a golden millennium, angelic smiles gracing our lips as we breathed in each other's air.

"I love you, too," Carlisle murmured, leaning his back against the slab of wall that jutted out behind him. I grinned and pulled my head away from his, resting my cheek on his shoulder. I felt his fingers tracing lazy circles into my back and let my eyes fall shut for a couple seconds, before his soft voice interrupted out peaceful moment. "Esme? May I ask you something?" I lifted my head from his shoulder, giving him a slight nod.

"Of course. Ask away," I replied, casually wrapping my arms around his neck. He shifted his weight onto his right foot, somewhat nervously chewing on his bottom lip. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object that I couldn't yet decipher. He placed a soft kiss on my cheek before letting his other hand fall from my waist. I watched and waited in curiosity, my eyes grazing his every move. He gave me a tentative smile before he took both of my hands in his and dropped to one knee.

At that point, I knew in my mind exactly what he planned to ask, and I knew for sure that my answer would be nothing less of a yes.

"Esme Platt," he began, his voice not wavering in the slightest as his soft golden eyes pored into my own. "Will you marry me?"


End file.
